As the role of the New York City firefighter has evolved to include more emergency medical care, budget watchdogs have been calling for a reorganization of the fire department. Union officials, however, argue that the current structure is working fine. After emergency medical services merged with the fire department in 1996, firefighters began responding to the highest-priority medical calls. In those 20 years, medical emergencies have grown to 47% from 31% of the calls that firefighters respond to.