Ambulances sitting empty across Lower Mainland this weekend, paramedics warn

Paramedics in B.C. are warning people living in the province's most populous region to brace for the impact of unstaffed ambulances over the weekend.

In a statement on social media early Saturday morning, the union warned that "many" of the Lower Mainland's advanced life support units were "sitting empty" overnight. In Maple Ridge, a city with a population of roughly 90,000, the Ambulance Paramedics of BC said there were zero ambulances staffed Saturday.

"We are urging the public to be aware that there could be significant delays in service, and use 911 when someone’s health or safety is at risk, use 811 when unsure," wrote union president Troy Clifford, adding that the situation is indicative of a crisis across the province that "seems to have no end."

A particularly alarming example of the effect of these staff shortages has been brought to light in the Interior community of Ashcroft. This week, for the second time in less than a month, a resident of the Village died while waiting for an ambulance to respond – causing the mayor to once again sound the alarm.

“I’d like to tell you that this is isolated to Ashcroft, but it’s not,” Clifford told CTV News in the aftermath of that incident.

“We just don’t have enough paramedics to fill the spots. The system has not been addressing the precarious on-call model.”

Clifford says normally, Ashcroft would have two ambulances: a full-time primary response unit, and a secondary ambulance that relies on on-call, casual staff. However, he said, the second one is rarely staffed anymore, as there are not enough paramedics, and even the primary ambulance is not always staffed.

He added it’s a strain other communities are experiencing as well, and tragic cases like these also take a heavy toll on first responders.

“Paramedics and dispatchers just want to do their job,” he said. “These are all system failures."

In 2021, ambulance paramedics responded to record-high number of calls as the combined public health emergencies of COVID-19 and the toxic drug crisis continued to challenge short-staffed crews. In addition, extreme weather events like the deadly heat dome, raging wildfires, and catastrophic flooding added pressure on a system and its workers that Clifford and the union have repeatedly said are buckling under the pressure.

"Every corner of B.C. is suffering from unprecedented staffing, recruitment and retention issues. We do not have enough paramedics and dispatchers to meet the call volume and demand for service," a statement posted to the union's website in June of this year reads.

"We have never seen our ability to respond to patients in their time of need be in such peril."

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Maria Weisgarber