SANFORD, Fla. --

In an effort to cut costs, Volusia County has asked emergency dispatchers to ask a few extra questions on every emergency call.

If a fire engine and a rescue squad are both needed, so be it. But if one or the other can stay at the fire station, it would save the county money and keep that unit ready for the next call.

Seminole County Emergency Medical Director Dr. Todd Husty said dispatchers there have been doing the same thing for nearly two years.

Husty said it's not so much a money-saving initiative as it is a safety issue. He said more firefighters and paramedics are injured or killed in traffic crashes than in any other emergency.

Husty said sending fire engines and rescue squads when only absolutely necessary is not only a way to reduce costs, it's a way to increase safety for the crews and the people on the roads.