California Red

Members
 View profile  See their activity

  • Content count

    88

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    30

Posts posted by California Red

  1. Posted · Edited by California Red

    I was pushing around Stn. 5 in Hillcrest  yesterday and saw a sign listing station-specific tees on sale, but it wasn't obvious where to go to get them, and I don't want to be ringing an emergency bell for a non-emergency like that. Does anyone else here live in SD and know what I'm talking about? I wonder if the dept. has a link to order this merch online?

    Thanks.

  2. Posted

    https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/san-diego-news/falck-appoints-john-goward-to-oversee-san-diegos-ambulance-operations

    Quote

    SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Falck Mobile Health announced Wednesday it has appointed John Goward to lead San Diego's paramedic emergency ambulance services.

    Goward has more than 40 years of experience in the fire service and commercial ambulance fields combined. He will lead more than 400 Falck paramedics, EMTs, administrative and support personnel in San Diego, a Falck spokesperson said.

    Goward is an internal candidate for Falck's top operations job in America's Finest City; he currently serves as the director of emergency operations for San Diego. His transition to the managing director job will happen on June 2, the press release says.

     

  3. Posted

    Quote

    SAN DIEGO — The City of San Diego is now considering what action it will take if Falck doesn't make major changes to improve its response times and ongoing staffing issues, and said action could be taken as soon as January.

    "We can't wait any longer we are already in a position we need to start addressing this issue now," Chief Colin Stowell, San Diego Fire Chief.

     

    Falck began working for the city one year ago.

    "They promised they would do better and be better and they have not in a single month in the past year, not once have they lived up to the minimum," said Marni von Wilpert, a member of San Diego's City Council.

    Falck's goal is to arrive to life saving calls within 12 minutes but the Stowell said the fire department has seen it take an ambulance up to 25 minutes to arrive. This forces firefighters to step in when the ambulance doesn't arrive fast enough.

     

    https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/san-diego-considering-action-if-ambulance-provider-falck-doesnt-improve/509-aac620ab-ddd9-4f4c-b143-19a81408661b

  8. Posted · Edited by California Red

    https://californianewstimes.com/san-diego-concerned-new-ambulance-company-struggling-to-hire-secure-new-vehicles/531136/

     

     

    San Diego-

     

    The company, which will become San Diego’s new ambulance provider on Thanksgiving weekend, is struggling to hire ambulance personnel and secure new ambulances, and city officials are being urged to express concern about the transition.

     

    According to Fire Chief Colin Stowell, Falk, a Danish company that handles ambulance services in many cities around the world, took on long-time urban ambulance provider American Medical Response at 8:00 am on November 27. Will be replaced.

    The acquisition will take place at the end of a six-month transition period approved by the city council last spring, which chose Falk over AMR as an ambulance provider in San Diego, based on a promise of better service and response time.

    None of the areas where Falk is below the city’s expectations will endanger life, Stowell said. However, the slow progress of some priorities raised concerns about stability during the transition, and the city’s fire department moved to a positive stance.

     

    “I’ve quoted some concerns. I’d like to see progress in some areas, but I think many of these things can be achieved because it’s still 10 weeks away from the launch date. “I will,” said Stowell. ..

    Although understandable in a very tough labor market, Stowell’s inability to hire enough emergency personnel delays fulfilling his promise to increase overall ambulance time by 20% over what AMR offered. He said it was likely.

    Falk is also struggling to fulfill its promise to quickly replace all 66 ambulances with new ones. Due to the shortage of pandemic-related microchips, the challenge these days is to buy new vehicles of all types.

    Falck has secured 34 new ambulances. This meets the contractual agreement that at least half of the ambulances are new. The fleet will not be all new ambulances until next spring, as the other 32 new ambulances are expected to arrive at a rate of about two per week, Stwell said.

  9. Posted

    I forgot to get a time check, but I think it was around 2pm, I very suddenly and severely started smelling something burning, and very quickly after that heard a number of apparatus going by. I kept pushing on out to my deck but kept missing most units. I saw one turn onto 163. Maybe E5. Maybe E8. Maybe another. I tried checking that website that logs dispatch, but it seemed to skip over this incident. Anybody aware of what I'm talking about? Guess I'll click on the news to see if they have it.

  10. Posted

    According to San Diego Fire's wiki, the following apparatus are at the air ops base at Montgomery:

    Copter 1, Copter 2, Copter 3, Air Operations 1, Air Operations 2.

    So we know what a copter is, but what are the two "Air Ops" units? Are they helitenders? Are they a different kind of helicopter?

     

  13. Posted · Edited by California Red

    I like that old Dodge brush engine, though I'm not seeing any lights (unless those are the ones below the headlights). 

    I used to canoe with my church youth group off of Blythe, and Ehrenberg was right across the river as I remember. I think t was them that had this old Kenworth or Peterbilt tanker. Maybe lime green with white rims. I wonder if that's still around. I always liked what I saw of it, though I've never seen a really good photo. Especially with the light setup.

    ETA: nm, it's red with a white stripe. 4431. It's a Peterbilt. https://www.facebook.com/Ehrenberg-Fire-District-142635629732911/photos/365322770797528

    engine98 likes this

  14. Posted

    https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/amr-no-more-san-diego-city-council-votes-to-switch-ambulance-service-providers/2575985/

     

     

    If you call 911 for an ambulance in San Diego, a different company will soon be taking you to a hospital. More than 150 public speakers weighed in on the San Diego City Council vote on a final contract with Falck, a switch from longtime provider AMR.

    The council voted unanimously in favor of switching provider. AMR is scheduled to serve San Diego for the next six months or so and help with the transition

    AMR has a history of issues with ambulance response times. The city's new provider, Falck, said it has a plan to fix that, but not everyone is sure they can.

    Local

     

     
     

  15. Posted · Edited by California Red

    https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2021-01-25/san-diego-closer-to-switching-ambulance-providers-after-city-rejects-protest-by-incumbent-amr

    New provider, Falck, would increase ambulance service 20 percent; public hearing slated Feb. 10

    JAN. 25, 2021
    1:39 PM
    SAN DIEGO —  

    San Diego’s plan to switch ambulance providers took a key step forward Monday when the city rejected an appeal by incumbent provider American Medical Response, paving the way for rival Falck USA to take over later this year.

    Falck, a Danish company that operates ambulances in Northern and Southern California, will boost ambulance coverage in San Diego by more than 20 percent compared to what AMR has been providing, city documents say.

    San Diego’s efforts to find a new ambulance provider come after years of complaints about service levels and response times, particularly in ethnically diverse areas south of state Route 94.

    With AMR’s appeal now formally rejected and dismissed, the City Council’s public safety committee has scheduled a Feb. 10 public hearing on the Falck proposal, which could receive final approval from the full council a few weeks afterward.

     

    City officials negotiated and signed a formal contract with Falck in September, several weeks after choosing Falck over AMR based on responses from both providers to an April “request for proposals.”

    AMR could still file a lawsuit seeking to block the switch to Falck. On Monday, an AMR spokesman said company officials were “assessing all of our options.”

  20. Posted

    On 10/5/2020 at 5:43 PM, firepost said:

     I  have been trying to keep up to date with what is happening in San Diego so can you tell me if there is an Ambulance 35 at Station 35 yet ? I have seen somewhere where it says that there is an Ambulance 35 but I have seen other things that don't say that. When I was last there Rural Metro had  just taken over the EMS service and there were somewhere around 27 or 28 Ambulances assigned to some fire stations while there was another 6 to 9 Ambulances that ran out of repair shops at Station 28 and they went on duty during the day and early evening and they would fan out across the city and be used to fill in where they were needed. They were also known as Flex units which meant that they were flexibly deployed during the busier hours. They are also known in some places as "dynamic deployment units"  or sometime called "power shift units". If I am correct only ALS ambulance were located at some of the fire stations while the BLS (basic life support ) Ambulances were either  stationed at Hospitals or out on the street somewhere.  Thanks.

    I'm not in that neck of town (pretty sure that's by UCSD. I'm quite a bit south, near Stn. 5). As for an ambulance, yes, at least according to the wiki. We actually would call it "Medic 35". So, their roster is: E35, M35, T35, BR35, B5, U85.

  21. Posted

    On 9/25/2020 at 3:25 PM, firepost said:

     

    Since you are from Los Angeles, I presume, I have a question for you. I know that several of  your Truck companies (Light Forces) have been equipped with Jump Bags and I was wondering if the Jump Bags are actually  carried on the Ladder Trucks or is there seperate vehicle or Van that goes with the Light Force when the Jump Bags are needed.     

    I'm actually from San Diego. Not sure how we handle those calls.  But here's an LACoFD (not LAFD) Rescue Air Cushion (RAC) responding. 

                                                         

    On the subject of Lifting Airbags I know that the Ladder units in Los Angeles carry alot of equipment on them. Chicago's Trucks do  carry Hurst tools on them however the Truck companies here don't carry any Airbags for lifting and only our Squads carry the Lifting bags. I think that it would be a good idea if some of Chicago's Truck companies would carry Lifting bags like they do in Los Angeles so that we wouldn't always have to wait for a Squad company to show up in order to use the bags.

    I do like the Chicago Area Fire site you mentioned, though I tend to skip right to the departmental apparatus photos. I'll need to check out that NYC site. Thanks.

     

     

     

     

     

  22. Posted

    Yes, the green and red is a maritime tradition and is very common in Chicagoland, and occurs elsewhere as well (SFFD, for instance, to tell between a ladder and an engine). And blue is pretty common all over Illinois (and many other states). Has been for decades. Becoming more so.

  23. Posted

    I have been looking for messageboards similar to this, but that deal with (or at least include) the Chicago Fire Department. I feel like that chicagoareafire.com side should have a forum area, but it seems not to. I just kind of got curious when seeing a picture of an older vehicle operating as 5-6-2, a "jump bag" unit. This was a really cool former ambulance that was repurposed as a "jump bag" unit. 

     

    ETA: Right here, actually. http://www.cfdshopnumbers.com/c-series/804

     

    So, a jump bag, as I know (?) now, is an EMS tool bag, so to speak (maybe similar to a FA kit, but bigger). So, I'm not sure what a jump bag unit would do. Resupply?

    Maybe this could have been its own thread, but it seemed related to this one.