The Palo Alto Fire Department is recruiting paramedics and EMTs for a new dedicated ambulance unit that will run seven days a week out of a city fire station starting this fall.

The program, called Palo Alto Fire Medic 1, will staff a single ambulance with nine new hires, four full-time and five part-time, working 12-hour daytime shifts from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., according to the city's official job posting. The city began accepting interest forms in mid-June 2026 and promoted the role again on its social media accounts on Saturday, July 5.

The positions mark the department's first "single-function" EMS role, meaning the new hires will focus exclusively on emergency medical calls rather than also fighting fires. Both paramedics and EMTs are eligible to apply.

Selected candidates will enter a competitive recruitment process followed by the Palo Alto Fire Medic 1 EMS Academy, which the city expects to launch in early fall. The city has not publicly identified which fire station will house the new ambulance.

Why it matters

The new unit follows a series of staffing decisions driven by gaps in fire coverage across Palo Alto's six stations. The department operates with roughly 120 sworn and non-sworn personnel and a $61 million annual budget, according to the job listing.

Fire Station 4 in south Palo Alto has been a particular pressure point. In February 2025, the City Council directed the department to add a fire engine at Station 4 using a cross-staffing model funded through overtime, restoring pre-COVID staffing of three personnel per shift. Under that model, when two firefighters ride the ambulance, the remaining crew member cannot staff the engine alone, since three are required.

A Baker Tilly audit presented to the Policy and Services Committee on May 12, 2026, flagged staffing concerns in the fire department, though specific fire overtime figures were not detailed publicly. A separate Baker Tilly assessment of the city's dispatch center, published in August 2025, found the center understaffed at 17 of 20 budgeted positions, with only 68% of calls in 2024 dispatched within the national 90-second standard.

How to apply

The Medic 1 interest form is available at paloalto.gov/FireCareers. The department has not announced a deadline for submissions or a salary range for the positions.