Prince George, B.C. – Are there enough ambulances to serve Prince George? That is a question one of the jurors at the Coroner’s inquest into the deaths of Glenn Roche and Alan Little, put to Primary Care Paramedic Grant Jameson.

Jameson, a 25 year veteran with B.C. Ambulance Service, was one of the first responders to the Lakeland Mill site on April 23rd, 2012 when the mill exploded into flames.

He told the jury the City has three ambulances, which, in his opinion, were enough to handle the daily needs of this community. Having more on standby would mean   there would be plenty of people waiting around doing nothing until there was a major incident.

Jameson testified he was at the ambulance station on Edmonton Street that night, when they “felt something” he described it as a “pressure wave” and he and a colleague stepped outside the building to see if they could see anything, and then the calls came in for them to respond to Lakeland.

Earlier testimony from some of the survivors of that horrific night,   raised questions about why the ambulances that arrived on scene didn’t immediately access the mill site, instead, they were positioned on River Road. Jameson explained policy and protocol prevents them from accessing a scene until they have been advised by the proper authorities, in this case Prince George Fire Rescue, that it is safe to do so. As it was, he said there was debris showering down on them at one site, so they moved to another access point where they felt it was safe.

As a Primary care paramedic, he was limited in the type of aid he could provide, for instance, he would not be permitted to administer morphine, but could establish an intravenous line for a patient. Morphine could only be administered by an Advanced Life Support Paramedic.

Jameson was asked if he thought there were enough Advanced Life Support Paramedics in Prince George, and again , the answer was yes.

Jameson was in the ambulance attending to Alan Little when he was transported to hospital. He said Little had some breathing difficulty and had suffered what he considered to be 3rd degree burns from “head to toe”. He said Little told him “He had just been working on a machine, that there was an explosion and he was thrown” and that “he was surrounded by fire and flames.” Jameson said Alan Little told him he had escaped by crawling through a hole in the wall.

The inquest will sit for an extended day today, to 7pm, in order to get the schedule back on track. There are 47 witnesses scheduled to be heard over two and a half weeks and so far, only 8 have taken the stand.