David Lee Roth goes from No. 1 to 911

Former Van Halen frontman trains with paramedics

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updated 9:25 a.m. ET Nov. 16, 2004

NEW YORK - Rocker David Lee Roth, the former Van Halen frontman, is taking up a new trade.

Instead of screaming “Jump,” he’ll be yelling “Clear!”

Roth, 50, has been riding for several weeks with a New York ambulance crew in training to become a paramedic, The New York Post reported Tuesday.

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“I have been on over 200 individual rides now,” said Roth. “Not once has anyone recognized me, which is perfect for me.”

The singer, who spent a decade with Van Halen before embarking on a solo career, except a collaboration with the band for two new songs on a greatest hits album, has been riding along with crews in the Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn several nights a week.

His training seems to be going well.

Several weeks ago, Roth saved the life of a heart attack victim in the Bronx by using a defibrillator.

He takes his work so seriously that he did not want publicity so that it would not “diminish what I am trying to do here.” He has said that he did not want the neighborhoods he was working in named so that he would not draw attention to himself or co-workers.

“You would never know you were dealing with a rock-’n’-roll guy,” said Linda Reissman, Roth’s EMS consultant and tutor. “His commitment really is touching. He wants to help people.”