I've seen in our lcal rag today that the Fire Service is to be excused from administering first aid in situations where it's needed, but they get there before the ambulance does. The Fire Service have said this "co-response" thing is a way of "papering over the cracks" in the Ambulance service. Do they have this down in London? I bet this is a provincial thing where there's that much more physical space to cover.. I don't know that if I were a fireman (woman) I would like to carry on putting out a fire and saving a property, when there might be casualties there who would suffer if I didn't help them first.