SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — Seminole County Fire Chief Otto Drozd is telling residents that if they can avoid calling 911 for minor issues, please do. 

What You Need To Know

  •  Seminole fire chief is asking residents not to call 911 for minor issues

  •  Hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients and room is scarce

  • Some first respondes say they have waited hours with a patient before they were admitted to the hospital

He is making the request because of the overwhelming number of calls and hospitalized patients with COVID-19. 

Seminole County firefighter paramedic Marisol Esquilin routinely drops off patients at the hospital after they call 911, but recently, she’s had to wait hours before the hospital has the space to take them. 

“Saturday, I was working mandatory overtime … during one of my transports I had to wait two hours and 45 minutes, almost three hours, and I know for a fact one of the other local fire departments had a rescue there that waited four hours,” Esquilin said. 

Drozd said the wait times are a direct result of hospitals being overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients and not having beds available for patients the ambulances transport. 

“The hospitals are inundated with an overwhelming number of patients, so there’s a trickle down effect to us,” he said. 

With more fire and rescue units waiting hours at hospitals, that’s fewer units that can respond to 911 calls. 

“We have rescues that are tied up at the hospital, and then if someone calls 911, it could be a rescue coming from a farther location,” said Assistant Seminole County Emergency Communications Supervisor Barbara Montgomery. 

Even the volume of 911 calls has spiked with COVID-19 cases. 

“I’ve noticed a big influx of 911 calls, especially over the last few months," Montgomery said. "I think a lot of people are scared with COVID symptoms."

Which has prompted Chief Drozd to make a request to the public they serve:

“For those minor signs and symptoms, they can go to their personal physicians, they can go to the many urgent care clinics within the community, and that will help us to concentrate on those more serious cases."

Drozd said they still want people to call if they are having trouble breathing, chest pains or other potentially serious symptoms. 

Rescuers like Esquilin say they will be ready to go when needed. 

“If you call us, we’re gonna come and help you out,” Esquilin pledged.

Montgomery said anyone who feels like they need to call 911 should do it. 

But just know that, unless it’s something really serious, she says calling 911 will not get you into the hospital quicker.