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City Officials Looking Into Whether Firefighters' Narcan Training Conflicts With EMS Contract

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Pittsburgh firefighters gained a new tool this week that's proven to save lives, but then came some confusion about whether they could continue to use it.

Narcan, or Naxolone, is a medicine used to treat people who are suffering drug overdoses.

Health officials have been pushing to make it more widely available.

Pittsburgh firefighters had it, were told to give it back (apparently mistakenly), and now have it again.

"Don't take away life-saving tools from the first responders who are out there every day," said Ralph Sicuro, president of the Pittsburgh Firefighters Union Local #1.

Sicuro says firefighters were trained on how to use Narcan, began carrying it this week, and Sicuro says it was put to use Thursday night: "There was a call for an unconscious female in an alley. Our twenty-four truck which is housed on the South Side responded, was able to administer Narcan and saved a life."

But on Friday came a memo from the acting fire chief, telling crews that word came from the city to "collect all the Narcan units in the field and return them to fire headquarters."

"We don't understand exactly why," said Sicuro. "Other than we were told EMS threatened to file an unfair labor practice or grievance of some kind."

But late Friday, Mayor Bill Peduto's office released a statement saying it was never its intention to take the Narcan away, that the reports to remove it were "erroneous."

"The Peduto Administration learned of the incorrect orders late in the day and reversed them."

However, the mayor's office confirms that the Paramedics' Union did indeed contact them about firefighters using Narcan. Now, the City Law Department is looking into whether this conflicts with the EMS contract.

Jeffrey Tremel, president of the Fraternal Association of Professional Paramedics Local #1, released a statement which states in part: "The Pittsburgh Paramedics bring the highest quality of advanced life support there is to offer to our great city and simply putting advanced treatment capabilities in the hands of providers with basic level training is not the answer our city needs.

"Our hope is to work collectively with the city administration to more effectively allocate these resources in order to better deliver the advanced level of care our city deserves."

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