Paramedic Plan Draws Fire.

The L.A. Fire Department is preparing to test a controversial paramedic deployment plan in the San Fernando Valley that critics say will compromise emergency care.

Fire Chief William Bamattre wants to staff ambulances with one licensed paramedic and one emergency medical technician. Such technicians receive one-tenth the training of a paramedic.

The plan is designed to help alleviate a shortage of paramedics assigned to ambulance duty and reduce average response time. But the move is opposed by the firefighters union and many emergency care experts, who say the new deployment plan will hurt emergency services by doing away with the all-important "second pair of eyes" that is critical in the first minutes of emergency treatment.