BATON ROUGE — A judge on Wednesday directed the city-parish's civil service board to not, for now, consider placing the region's emergency medical services workers under the Baton Rouge fire chief.

Mayor-President Sid Edwards had said in June he wanted to merge the city's fire department with parish's EMS, prompting questions among first responders and others about how a new operation would work. East Baton Rouge Parish has several fire departments. 

Members of the East Baton Rouge Emergency Medical Services Paramedics Association sued the Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board on Tuesday. 

Fire Chief Michael Kimble had told WBRZ last month that the goal was to streamline services, not eliminate jobs as the parish faces a budget shortfall.

Edwards agreed to a 30-day delay in merger talks — until next Monday's meeting of the civil service board. A vote is now  delayed at least until next Wednesday, when 19th Judicial District Chief Judge Don Johnson will hold a hearing on the paramedics' request for a preliminary injunction.