I figured since I'm new here, what a better way to get noticed than to start a thread that will probably ignite emotion.  Having been experienced both as a firefighter and an ems provider, I think I have a good idea about this issue.  Fire or EMS, who is better?  Neither.  I have run into the guys while I worked private ambulance that wanted my partner and I to wait outside the house with our gurney until they finished tx their patient.  They said ambulance people don't know what they are doing and are just in the way.  While in medic school, I had a f/f tell me that if I wasn't a firefighter, I was stupid.  Conversely, while working Fire and running a few medical calls, ran across a medic and his partner that were included in the scene and proceeded to argue with me and my crew in front of the patient!  After the call I overheard them say, "figures, what can you expect out of fire, they don't know what they're doing....they just want to show off to keep up the 'hero' image."

So what do you all think?  Me personally, I feel we are all equally important members of a large team of public safety.  However now that we have blurred the lines of EMS/Fire with the advent of ALS fire departments, it seems the old rivalry is being fueled again.

what is your feedback?  and keep in mind, no one is stupid unless they are calling names and rude.