Depending on how they answered the dispatcher's questions when they called 911, two ambulances and two fire trucks was the appropriate response for the call, at least initially. If a heart issue turns into a code blue issue you need all those resources for CPR. Now, once units arrive and assess the situation, they can cancel units not there.
And regarding blocking lanes on the highway, the general rule (at least for the agencies I've worked for/with) is the incident lane plus one. If the incident is on the right shoulder, then we block the shoulder plus the right lane. If it's in the right lane, we block the right lane and the middle lane or part of the left lane and move traffic onto the shoulder, so on and so forth. Slow traffic is less likely to impact the current incident or create a second one.
Do first responders do things that don't make any sense? Or do something out of spite to the public? Absolutely. We're human, and that's human nature. Do *most* of us do it? No, not even close. Does the public see us do something and not understand why we did it the way we did, and assume it's unnecessary or stupid? Every day.
Duane