Injuries From House Fire Spark Ambulance Policy Changes

DENVER (CBS4)- Denver Health Medical Center is changing its ambulance policy after it took paramedics 15 minutes to respond to a house fire on Tuesday.

The hospital's previous policy indicated that an ambulance would only be dispatched after it was confirmed that victims were involved.

Patricia Garcia and her two children were trapped inside their burning home on South Eliot Street early Tuesday morning. They all are in critical condition as of Friday evening.

Emergency scanners recorded the urgency of the situation.

Scanner: "We are getting multiple calls from inside the home. We do have parties trapped."

Scanner: "We have a paramedic here, do not have an ambulance yet, three patients on a lawn."

Denver Health responded to 800 calls of structure fires each year since 2009 with no problems. Now, representatives with Denver Health Medical Center admit they made a mistake.

"The final part of the system, the ambulance transport, it broke down. Fifteen minutes is too long to wait in this situation," said Chief Paramedic Scott Bookman.

Denver Health said they will dispatch an ambulance on every response. That policy change takes effect immediately.

The fire was ignited by an unattended candle in a religious shrine inside the home.

A fund has been set up to help the family injured in the fire. The South Eliot House Fire Fund is available for donations at all area Wells Fargo Banks.