CFS chief officer Mark Jones said in a statement on Thursday that volunteers of the South Australian emergency service had attended about 1000 medical incidents in the past year, including more than a dozen this week.

While volunteer firefighters are routinely exposed to traumatic events, they were frequently attending medical incidents where they knew the casualty, he said.

“Our firefighters are keen to play any role which helps them to support their neighbours,” Jones said.

“However, it is in these small communities where the trauma of these sorts of jobs hits hardest – our volunteers are regularly turning up to an incident where they personally know the casualty and are having to deal with the mental trauma of this.”

Jones also said there was a big difference between performing CPR and addressing someone’s underlying health conditions, with a higher level of training and support needed.

The firefighters helping the SA Ambulance Service were doing so outside of the scope of their normal duties, in their own time without pay, and without the same support as paramedics, the chief officer said.

“I have seen the number of (SA Ambulance Service) assist jobs that our volunteers are expected to attend grow significantly,” Jones said.

“This is something that has occurred without any formal agreement or additional support for our volunteers doing an already tough job.”

The comments come as the state government weighs up sending more Metropolitan Fire Service firefighters to emergency callouts, following the death of a 47-year-old father in a Plympton car park on Monday night.

The man spent 42 minutes waiting for an ambulance after calling triple zero for help with chest pain, amid a day of extreme hospital pressure and ramping.

The United Firefighters Union called for firefighters to be better trained to assist with emergency callouts as they are currently dealing with ambulance cases on an “ad hoc basis”.

A state government task force, including MFS chief officer Michael Morgan and SA Ambulance Service CEO Rob Elliott, will examine the proposal.

Premier Peter Malinauskas said this morning the CFS was not part of the task force.

“Our CFS volunteers respond to a lot more than fires,” he told ABC Radio this morning.

“The CFS is responding to car accidents, to fires and other emergencies on a frequent basis – so they already do this work.

“That’s why we’ve got to keep an eye on the volunteer base.”

Emergency Services Minister Joe Szakacs said the work to be undertaken was firmly focused on full-time, paid Metropolitan Fire Service firefighters.

“This task force has been constructed to ensure we are not asking any more of our hardworking CFS volunteers, who already assist SAAS (SA Ambulance Service) in SA’s regions,” he said in a statement.

“The Malinauskas government has made significant investments in health and emergency services in the state’s regional areas, to ensure those hardworking men and women that volunteer their time to keep us safe have the resources to do so.”

-With AAP