An Illinois firefighter/paramedic was arrested for stealing morphine from an ambulance and replacing it with saline.

Westmont (Ill.) Fire Department firefighter/paramedic Adam Giermann was arrested on July 21 following a two-month investigation. A co-worker reported seeing Giermann inject himself with morphine at the fire station. Giermann, who was named “Firefighter of the Year” by his peers in 2007, reportedly admitted stealing morphine in March and April.

According to Bruce Evans, FIRE CHIEF’s EMS columnist and the North Las Vegas (Nev.) Fire Department’s EMS chief, abuse of controlled medications has increased exponentially with fire-based EMS.

“There is a silent epidemic among fire-based EMS,” Evans said. “I don’t know of any region of the country that is not dealing with this problem.”

Evans said that his department has instituted a three-tier system to secure narcotics and opiates carried on ambulances. Security measures include biometric safes that require fingerprints, medical vaults, and double-sealed tamper-proof tape and vials.

Evans also said that many departments don’t properly screen new personnel for drugs.

“Thousands of ALS ambulances are in use across the country, which puts more drugs in the system,” Evans said. “If a department denies having a problem, it might be because they have multiple-checks in place and do random testing — or they just haven’t discovered the problem yet.”