Rescue51

http://www.fireapparatusmagazine.com/articles/print/volume-20/issue-4/features/aerial-manufacturers-focus-on-improving-the-100-footers.html

http://www.smeal.com/news.aspx?year=2015&r=35

Wish we could talk 'LKSENG3' into talking Lakeside FD/board into buying one as me thinks they need to have a quint in their district. They always did before. They still have the KME with I think the 65 foot squirt/ladder, but it is per 'LKSENG3' only a reserve status rig down at 2's (E202s).

http://www.fireapparatusmagazine.com/articles/2015/04/fdic-2015-e-one1.html

https://www.flickr.com/photos/piercemfg/16528710533/

Good reporting by the writer for Lakeside Fire District blog, on a TC w/rescue on the SR67 yesterday, JNO Slaughterhouse Canyon Road. Looked like an intense rescue (on the link below, you can also link to the YouTube video of some of the cutting). My question to the Lakeside folks in this forum, is I noticed on the listed resources both E2 and the reserve E203 with Rescue 3 (and other units) reported to the scene. I thought the staffing at station 3's, since many years ago, only manned the rescue but not both rescue and an engine. Is there additional staffing @ 3's, or was this something where the rescue can run in tandem to the pumper? Thx in advance. http://lakesidefiredist.blogspot.com/2015/04/lakeside-firefighters-rescue-trapped.html#links

Thank you 'JNP'. I heard rumors one of the ARFF rigs from Lindbergh (KSAN) was going to go up to 28's to replace the aged Crash 28. Wonder if that will happen.

Doesn't SD Fire & Rescue also have some foam tenders, if I recall?

Thanks 'lkseng3'. That is lots of water to carry. I did not think that rig would carry more than 2500 gallons. Impressive. If from San Pasqual, wonder what it was doing in Santee. Interesting.

Thanks to 'lkseng3'. Okay, that makes sense. I recall the old days of staffing at station 3's when you had the squirt/pumper with staffing then additional staffing for the rescue and/or brush and water tender. Those were the days. On station 2, I know you have the squirt (KME with the stick/ladder) there, as a reserve. Is that set to respond first-out on structures for the district?

http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/county-responds-ambulance-service-questions-0

Thanks 'LKSENG3' and 'Nacho17'. They have a very low profile on-line, which is interesting. I also wonder the need to operate under all the different names (McCormick, WestMed, Mercy, Mercy Ambulance).

I heard chatter from a FF in Heartland that a new and first brush rig is coming into town. He thinks it will be assigned to El Cajon Station 9 (near Gillespie Airport). No further details. I figured they are putting it at 9's due to 9's not being a very busy house, but am surprised it does not go to 8's where the response time seems quicker to where more brush is. But then again, maybe 8's has more Type-3 resources in that area. Some other writer in this forum recently wrote San Miguel Fire (Cal Fire) is putting on-line 2 new Type-3 rigs, I surmise to replace the 2 they already have. I think they came off a big bid/delivery Cal Fire did with HME. I am not sure who built the new Heartland Fire & Rescue brush rig coming soon.

Yes 'MesaBill', I think they do serve those areas. 'GilbertFIRE', some of those new AMR rigs are really sharp looking. I like the new colors. Wonder if Mercy's bid was much lower than AMR on this new East County deal? I cannot find Mercy Ambulance's home page using Google, are they owned by a holding company with different name? This is unusual that I cannot find them. Bring back Hartson's, and Medevac! Or bring Gold Cross with those Sprinters into San Diego. )

Hi 'MesaBill', the numbering system is getting so complicated I won't be able to keep track. I had all that stuff memorized and now it is just confusing (and I am getting older so that don't help). )

I am not familiar with Mercy. While AMR seems to almost have a monopoly in some areas, it seems their quality is high, and I hope the areas losing AMR, do not see a decline in service. Thanks for the info.

Interesting. I thought this was likely. This will cut the call demand under the auto-aid for the former E19 (now part of San Miguel/Cal Fire), which has run many first-ins to Lakeside's district. Once Lakeside station 1's move to the area of Winter Gardens Blvd & Pepper Drive, it will affect the former E19 (once East County Fire), since E1 could provide coverage for the Bostonia area of unincorporated San Diego County. Once you get E1, with E19 and then El Cajon's E8 all in that triangle, there could be duplication thoughts. However, that entire area seems fairly high call volume (especially for MED-AIDS). We shall see. http://lakesidefiredist.blogspot.com/2015/03/lakeside-fire-board-votes-to-relocate.html#links

The former 19's guys/gals will move to a nicer area, though they cannot walk-in on all the medical aids (and 5150's) in and around the Von's parking lot. And they won't be able to walk to the grocery store. With Lakeside relocating station 1's, it makes sense to move 19's now. Sounds like SMG/Cal Fire is committed to the old 19's, with the new station. Had it not been that, I too would have seen 19's going bye-bye.

Nice rig. Wonder how they are working for Lakeside. This is their 3rd delivery. Guess 26's will get the next one. If anyone knows, does E2 have rescue capacity since they roll on many of the bad TC's on SR67 or Wildcat Canyon Rd? http://lakesidefiredist.blogspot.com/2015/03/lakeside-engine-1-puts-new-pumper-in.html#links

Thank you 'FF Buff One'. Good info/points! I think I will borrow from the late and great King Stahlman, applying it to the need for rescues: "Better to know me and not need me, than to need me and not know me." You can never have enough resources when the bottom falls out (like a major earthquake, or even a day loaded with multiple TC's, structures, wildland responses on-top of the norm of medical runs). The situation now defines the trend, so-to-speak, so that is why El Cajon no longer has a rescue, nor does La Mesa as in El Cajon all their rescue capacity is on their truck (T6) and in La Mesa, much of their rescue is in T11, though now they do have a "rescue-engine" (E12). When the demand for service is average and everything is running smoothly, that is all fine, until a BIG ONE happens. We in the East County of San Diego should have a USAR and heavy rescue, not to mention that many wanted a HazMat but no one wants to come to the table to fund any of the stuff I've mentioned. The good news, since the Cedar and Witch Creek fires, we are better equipped for wildland responses, but how will that help us in a big earthquake if much of our rescue capacity is being McDonalds economized.

'Lkseng3'--forgot to ask, is the KME Telesquirt E202S set-up to run on structures as an additional resource or first-in, or is it just a reserve engine behind the front-line Smeal? We were talking about rescues that seem to go away (e.g., El Cajon, La Mesa), but we also lost some front-line Telesquirts too like E5S, and E3S. If all our trucks are out on MED AID calls or out-of-service because they are run so much on those type calls, we won't have the aerial resources (though the need for them is not all that often, I know). Take care.

Hi 'Lkseng3', good points for sure! Interesting news on ECFD and medic boxes (which are some of the nicer ones around). I was hoping it would go the other way, where Heartland Fire & Rescue would do a consolidation of the medic resources in East County, and run them all under one umbrella including those where AMR operates. But that's an incredible undertaking, with too much political cross-current to make it work (I suppose). I am not at all an advocate of getting rid of rescue resources, for technical rescue specialty to running standard rescue utility truck rigs for medical aids and TC's, call it a "squad." It makes so much more $ense in my humble opinion to invest in a small rescue if that needs to be, run it on all that stuff the truck is running on for medical aids. I know I've been a parrot on that issue for sometime. All the miles, wear, and thus out-of-service days, for instance, ECFD's T6 has, is costly and takes a key resource off the run card (excuse the old dispatch talk). As to Santee, their R5 is a great technical rescue for East County, and my suggestion about what could happen with a new T4 and putting the rescue on that, while taking the R5 staff and having them man a pumper (which Santee already has, albeit this would reduce their reserve engine fleet), seemed to me something they 'COULD' do to solve some issues within Santee. The former Santee chief told me they will not be replacing R5 for a long time, if at all. The next replacement will be the truck. Some FF's out of 4's want a quint. I agree our East County rescue resources seem less than days back. But then take a look at San Diego FD, prior to USAR41 coming on-line, I believe the only rescue they had was R4 (heavy rescue) out of downtown. The trucks carry jaws and some other tools, and can handle most the rescue demands (from TC's), but I always thought SDFD was rescue weak. I know Miramar has a rescue and they are often going into San Diego City proper, I think they were in UTC just last week (TC on the I-5). If our county/city has a major event (a, let's just say a quake), we're gonna want as much rescue as we can have. As a result of the auto-aids going on, I know the newer La Mesa Rescue-Engine 12, is running many more calls into San Diego City, mostly MED-AID calls, but also a bunch of rescue responses too. And La Mesa serves to highlight where I see the trends going, LMFD has Rescue 11 for years, and now that is gone, the station's rescue tools are on the truck, and then they added Rescue-Engine 12. Back to medical aid calls, I have long thought this entire paradigm for service needs a major overhaul. Way too many nose bleeds, 5150's, 1A's, general weakness, nose hairs, headaches, Viagra issues, tooth filling failures, and more, and the problem is growing exponentially. I attribute it to many factors, some I'll leave out, others that the ALS/BLS resources are now Uber, I mean taxi cabs. It seems the triage at dispatch with the assignment of appropriate resources, is not happening in East County like other agencies (including SDF&R). Often, let's say in El Cajon, T6 and M6 (or M3, or M5, or wherever they can find the medic resource) will go out on the toothache call and T6 gets cancelled by medics, or vice versa, and then someone requests Aid-6. So the call is triaged at-scene, but all those resources still responded, whether code or not, not sure. I understand the liability issues, and wanting to protect budgets, but at some point we have to admit this current WAY is going to bankrupt someone. There are so many EMT companies, for instance, in East County, did the rotation system I thought Heartland used at one time not work? On the calls downgraded by effective triage at dispatch, dispatch a qualified EMT resource on rotation, let them handle the billing. If they need it upgraded to ALS, then do it on their assessment, or need manpower for patient weight/lifting, you can still get an engine and ALS rig. But the resources for fire would not be over-burdened as they are now. OR, look at the type system LA County Fire uses with the squad rigs with a paramedic and FF, or 2 medics, dispatch that with a box from a commercial resource. The problem I see is if the public agencies don't figure out a way to manage this part of the service differently, and sooner-than-later, we will lose it, and much of the function will be privatized. Or, we could go back to the old way like in La Mesa and San Diego, just let the darn PD handle the medical aids and run old Ford Econoline vans on the runs. )

Thanks 'MesaBill', that's great stuff and brings back my memories on those unit #'s. As a young teen, I lived across from Santee station 4. I hung out there all the time (to the point I am sure they were tired of me). But they did their own dispatch for Santee in the station 4 office. That was in the early 70's. That station was fairly new (the one on Cottonwood). The one prior to that was their original one, I think, on Mission Gorge, next to the old post office. It was that building that looked like some old military hangar. Back then when the new station 4 opened on Cottonwood, that was like state of the art in fire departments. I think station 5 got the first Pierce which was the telequirt. The other earlier deliveries were the E-Ones to station 4 for the pumper and truck. All of us are eagerly awaiting to see when Santee replaces the tiller Truck 4. It is aging. Some are suggesting a Pierce, and one that this time is plumbed on the ladder, and even others are saying a pump/tank would not be bad as Santee has sort of out grown the fire department. I would not be surprised that they perhaps just get a truck-tiller like now, and make it the primary rescue, sell Rescue 5, and put another pumper at 5s running it as E205 along with E5. They have the pick-up truck that can tow the trailer with all the trench/confined space rescue resources, and supplement that with a new T4 with all the other rescue tools. Just some speculation on my part because it seems the rescues are going away and their equipment getting placed on truck or rescue-pumpers seems to be the trend where departments need to economize their dollars. I am of the contrary theory though where I believe instead of running trucks on all these medical aids, they need a utility truck with rescue tools/medical gear, or run a medium rescue rig. El Cajon's T6 seems out-of-service more than it is in service due to all the wear from an enormous amount of medical aids running from station 6's. And El Cajon T6 is a Pierce platform without tank/pump. It did have all-steer which is no longer made, and a hassle, but my understanding is it has been deactivated on T6 to save them from future problems. They have the nice Ford pick-up 4-man cab formerly B6 sitting idle over at 9's. They should put that at 6's and let it run the crew on the medical aids. My 2 cents.

Greetings 'MesaBill': Good information! I lived in Santee as a kid and recall much about their department. I recall their Snorkel which was on a Ford chasis (Pierce?), only 2-3 guys up in cab so the other FF's rode on the back like in old days. I recall when I believe station 5 (when it was in the converted house @ Carlton Hills/Carlton Oaks, took delivery of a Crown pumper. I recall the department had those military style AMC's (Kaisers?), I cannot recall but one may have been a water tender, the other a brush rig. I'd see them on the mountains around Santee fighting brush fires on grades and in situations that you don't see them today. Santee was progressive then in their paramedic service. I recall their old Chevy station wagon, then a Dodge van. Santee in I think early 80's got some E-One's, I think E4 and T4. They also got a Chevy for a light & air that use to chase the truck around on structure responses. Trying to remember their rescue before the big Chevy Kodiak that was a walk-in rescue and actually labelled on side for a while "heavy rescue." They had those intentions of getting certified for a heavy rescue, but never did. Santee also was going to have a HazMat unit, but think they did not realize what kind of budget you need for that investment/on-going expenses. I also lived in Casa de Oro and recall the Chevy pick-up Spring Valley FD (before San Miguel FD) had, I think they used one for a paramedic kind of response (like in Emergency), and then later had one for a rescue. I recall their open cab Crowns (like Lemon Grove too). Lived in Alpine during the 80's and recall how East County Fire (once was Crest & Bostonia Fire) would auto-aid (or was that mutual then?) using E19 to run up the grade on responses to help Alpine's E17 (on structures and TC's). Alpine's ambulance service consisted, I believe, of Aid (or A-19) and may have used also A-18 for a while, out of Bostonia and/or Crest...this was before the AMR contract for paramedic coverage. Take care!

Hi MesaBill, I don't remember that one but do remember El Cajon using ALF pumpers and also Rescue-6 which was the Ford chassis where 3 guys all rode up front (as in front seat).