District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department
In June 2015, Jullette M. Saussy was named the medical director of DC Fire and EMS. On January 29, 2016, she announced her resignation from that position in a letter to Mayor Muriel Bowser. In her letter, she called the department's culture "highly toxic to the delivery of any semblance of quality pre-hospital medical care."
History of the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department
The ambulance maintenance issue made national headlines on August 12, 2013, when a DCFEMS ambulance that was part of President Barack Obama's motorcade ran out of gas on the South Lawn of the White House. EMS personnel said they reported a broken fuel gauge months ago, while DCFEMS said workers failed to fill the vehicle with gasoline.
On August 13, 2013, two DCFEMS ambulances caught fire—one while delivering a patient a Washington Hospital Center, the other while responding to an emergency call at an apartment building on Benning Road SE. (Another ambulance was dispatched to take the patient to the hospital.) The firefighters union argued the problem arose from poor management, while DCFEMS said the problems either cannot be accounted for or are the result of rank-and-file incompetence or neglect. An image of the burning ambulance outside the apartment building made its way onto the Internet and received widespread distribution nationally.