Rescue51

SCNOT=Shift Commander Notification
LOGS=Logistics
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HZNOT=HazMat Notification

 

For them it is brand preference.  They have 2 Pierce tillers on order as well.

It was my understanding that seagrave got a little pricey. LAFD likes Pierce because of the Tak-4 suspension which LAFD helped design. 

I am not sticking up for Pierce, I am a bit indifferent on Pierce v. Seagrave, but curious why would some prefer the Seagrave over the Pierce, especially in a department like LAFD that has gone with a fleet majority of Pierce?   I am one that likes the competition and don't mind seeing more Seagraves, E-One, KME, HME, Smeal/Spartan, etc..  Pierce is certainly well liked and popular in Southern California, however it seems their price points are a bit high and I heard build times longer. 

The San Diego Fire Department did have a fleet of rear mounted Tower Ladders during  the late 1980s through the early 1990's. When I was last there which was in January 1999 a Tower Ladder was assigned to Truck 10 and Truck 28 as full time manned Truck companies. There were 2 additional Tower Ladders that were assigned to Stations 41 and 43 as "Jump'" companies.  For those who aren't familiar with the term "Jump company" it means that there is only one full time crew assigned to a fire station however there is more then one fire apparatus assigned to that station  and depending on the dispatch assignment the crew will man the fire unit or apparatus that in needed at the the time. So if a Ladder company was requested at the Stations 41 or 43 their Engine crews would jump onto the Ladder company and the Engine would go out of service until the Ladder returned. 
In early 1999 Truck 14 was using a Pierce Snorkel as it's regularly assigned Truck apparatus also. Ladder 5 was also a Jump company however they were using a 1980 Seagrave  rear mounted 100 foot Aerial Ladder.
The 4 Tower Ladders were Spartan /LTI's . One was a 1986 model and 3 were 1989 models.
Even though in early 1999 Trucks 10,28 41 and 43 were assigned Tower Ladders to my understanding  Truck 1 had one that was Originally assigned to it however in 1999 Truck 1 was using a Tillered Aerial Ladder.
It's no secret that San Diego did have problems making an adequate financial commitment to their fire department and  only in recent years they have been catching up and adding new  stations and putting new companies in service so I would imagine that  perhaps the reason that they have purchased no new Tower Ladders is because  straight Aerial Ladders are not as expensive and it was probably both easier and cheaper to purchase a standardized fleet of straight Aerial Ladder Trucks.
As far as using them  on EMS runs given, the weight of a Tower Ladder company there are ways to get around that issue. Here are 2 examples, Phoenix Arizona  has  2nd piece known as a Ladder Tender which is assigned to each of their 14 current Truck companies and if the Truck is assigned to an EMS run the crew uses the Ladder Tender (which is really a medium duty rescue squad) instead if the Aerial or Tower Ladder apparatus.  A 2nd example is that of San Antonio Texas. In San Antonio Texas most their fire stations which has a Ladder company assign also has a small SUV assigned to the Station which is designated as a Squad unit and if an EMS run comes in to that station one man from the Engine and one man from the Truck responds w with the Squad SUV so that they don't have to run with the Heavier Ladder or Engine company most of the time.

Chula Vista is leaving AMR  and they have 2 new RAs looks sweet https://vimeo.com/504573009

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/san-diego/story/2019-12-03/san-diego-plans-to-switch-ambulance-providers-for-first-time-since-1997
 
Switching from AMR to Danish-based Falck comes after disputes with AMR over response times, staffing levels and fines
By DAVID GARRICK
DEC. 3, 2019
 
5 AM
SAN DIEGO —  
San Diego officials said Monday they plan to switch the city’s ambulance provider for the first time in more than two decades.
Fire-Rescue Chief Colin Stowell said the city has decided to engage in exclusive contract negotiations with Falck, a Danish-owned company that provides ambulance services in nine U.S. states including California.
City officials chose Falck over the city’s existing ambulance provider, American Medical Response, based on how the two companies responded to a 73-page “request for proposals” issued by the city in August.
The decision to switch comes after a series of disputes between AMR and city officials over response times, staffing levels and fines levied on the company for not meeting city goals.

I may add Chula Vista & National City Fire has added Squads as well.
SDFR added one as well (SQ56)
But I agree if the call is a small one BLS a squad can handle it and not get an engine there to tie up other calls.
If its a heart attack or something serious Engine & a squad should work with manpower they need.
I saw a few You Tube Videos Oxnard FD has 2 Squads in their city.
I guess they have FF/PMs now since the last time I visited a buddy of mine up there years ago they had none.
Now they do (with Gold Coast EMS & AMR doing transport up in VC)

Great information and makes much $ense.  I also was thinking the platform might be more difficult to deploy (elevate) as it is wider than just shooting a straight stick/ladder up between trees.  You make great points about the trucks being run on BLS/ALS/frequent flyer 5150/Lyft-Uber kinda calls.  If you've followed me here for a while, you will see I've become a parrot almost to point an annoyance of recommending more departments stop using the trucks for the medical aid calls, and consider patrols, squads, rescues. The wear-and-tear on expensive trucks is just not worth it, unless the rig is already out of house and it makes sense to dispatch it to a nearby MedAid.  I was very pleased to see Heartland Fire-Rescue finally decided their Piece tower T6 (El Cajon) was being run into the ground on MedAid responses, and they put into service a nice 2-man pick-up which is Squad-6.  Technically if S6 is out on a run and a structure response or TC (since T6 has rescue capacity) comes out, T6 can still respond and S6 can join-in with manpower when they clear their previous assignment.  Nice to see more departments going to the TDA's.  San Miguel Fire-Rescue recently placed into service their beautiful T15 (Pierce quint, if I am correct).  It has been running lots of calls out of Fs15's.  I hope to see that department too consider a squad simply to reduce the cycles/miles/beat-up on the new T15.   

I can't speak for SDFR but here's my opinion having driven and been assigned to, both tillered and elevated platforms. Due to personnel costs, salary, benefits, training, etc., agencies are stretched thin, firefighters are tasked with a multitude of responsibilities. So what does that translate into? Truck companies going on more EMS calls, stations with "stand-alone" trucks, and it being much more common to see ALS truck companies. It's now not unheard of for some departments to have trucks running 10 to 12, or even more calls a shift. I bring that all up because in my opinion, and that of others in the fire service, if you're going to run ten plus calls a shift on a truck, it's way easier to do so in a tillered apparatus than in an elevated platform. Don't get me wrong, the elevated platforms are great to utilize at fires and in many physical rescue situations...once you get to where the incident is and commit to where you'll set-up and operate from. But I found those rigs to be slow, cumbersome, and a real pain to drive in traffic and on narrow streets. 
 

I honestly don’t know why but I guess it’s a California thing most department out here run tiller trucks and some straight sticks.it’s just west coast firefighting I guess.

Howdy folks!
Saw new Vista's New T126 via YT and looks sweet. Dunno if the Stuphen Tower will go into reserve or if the FD is keeping it at 125s as a second truck company.
Enjoy!
 

Here are the engine assignments and new callsigns for San Diego County OES resources.
Type-1 Engines
Agency                                OLD #                 NEW #
Vista                                   OES408               OES 6117
La Mesa                             OES406               OES 6118
San Diego                          OES417               OES6119
Lakeside                             OES418               OES6120
North County                      OES419               OES6121
Chula Vista                         OES420               OES6122
Poway                                OES421               OES6123
Rancho Santa Fe               OES336               OES6124
San Miguel                         OES410              OES6126
National City                                                     TBD
Coronado                                                          TBD
Santee                                                              TBD
Type-3 Engines
Agency                            OLD #                   NEW #        
 San Diego                       OES8631              OES6301
Escondido                        OES8632              OES6302
Oceanside                        OES8633              OES6303
San Marcos                      OES8634             OES6304
Carlsbad                           OES8635            OES6305
Chula Vista                                                   OES6306
San Diego                                                     OES6307
San Miguel                                                   OES6308
Rancho Santa Fe                                          OES6309
El Cajon                                                        OES6310
Type-6 Engines
Agency                            OLD #                   NEW #        
Oceanside                                                     OES6612
Encinitas                                                       OES6613
 
 
 

The new type-3 and will go to Fs16's as OES6308.  The type-1 will go to Fs18's and will be OES410.  That is new for San Miguel Fire-Rescue to get a type-3 rig from the State of California OES.  Picture credit goes to the Facebook page for San Miguel Fire Protection District & San Miguel Firefighters.  Wonder if Fs16's still hangs on to the older type-1 they've been using for a while? ~Rescue51

Heartland also got a type 3 (OES 6310) which will be housed at station 9. 

Alot of people scoff at the Ladder Tender concept, yet it works and works extremely well. People say "what if a structure fire tones out and you're in the LT?" No big deal. The LT has everything the big ladder has, minus the aerial, which 90% of the time you don't need on a residential house fire. Besides, if an aerial is needed, the next closet one is dispatched. That's also another good thing of automatic aid. No delays in getting additional resources. The Phoenix metro is basically one big fire department. Only difference is the color of the apparatus. 

And that, dear friends, is why metro Phoenix departments run ladder tenders ("LT's") on most truck assignments, leaving the aerial in quarters, with Low Acuity ("LA") and Medical Response ("MR") units running many of the 80% "I've fallen and I can't get up" calls, to save Engines from running their wheels off.

Hartson's!  That's a name I haven't heard in YEARS!  I remember the ambulance "station" on I-8 between El Cajon and La Mesa. As a kid I remember listening to El Cajon FD pre-Heartland days on a rotary tunable Radio Shack radio I had.  The El Cajon medic was "4391" and the chiefs/staff using 43xx but everything else was Engine/Truck - Back in the ALF days.  Then at some point the Ford C-Series Engine 6 became Rescue 6 ... Ah the good ol' days when you could listen to traffic on a tunable radio

I believe Medic #63 is still running out of Lindbergh (KSAN), because I have a friend who was on that rig recently.  I cannot answer your other questions, sorry.  Do you recall Medevac Ambulance, goes way back and they had contracts with San Diego Fire (-Rescue).  Who remember the presence of Hartson's Ambulance in San Diego?  When I was a kid, I recall they were in La Mesa, I believe, but real close to an on-ramp from Severin Drive, onto the I-8.  I'd see them rolling code coming down the on-ramp to get onto the I-8 going east.  I think back then, most the East County fire departments likely had Hartsons's as their EMT/BLS responses.  I believe Santee FD in conjunction with Lakeside FD, went operational with the first East County medic rigs ever, respectively Medic 4 and Medic 1.  They were sorta the pioneers of ALS/paramedics, modelled sorta after Los Angeles County's medics which the show EMERGENCY was all about (if I recall, I could be wrong).  Santee had been a very progressive department, with a rescue rig, even a HazMat rig they bought but never put into service as HazMat (it ran as a rescue, a GMC, as Rescue 4).  Santee has a technical speciality of trench/confined space rescue (if they still do).  I have not forgiven the chief and/or city council there for going away from the yellow painted rigs to the red.   ~Rescue51  

I am aware that San Diego has been contracting  EMS ambulance service with a private contractor since at least the 1990's. The contractor had been Rural Metro until AMR had acquired Rural Metro to my understanding. I recall that when Rural Metro had run the Ambulances there about 29 of the Ambulances that were Stationed at various fire stations and there were another 6 to 10 Ambulances that ran during the busier hours from the afternoon through the  late evening and were what is known a "dynamic deployment" which  means that those ambulances were basically located at locations out on the streets and those Ambulances were shifted around depending on where most of the call volume was so they would be moved to where there were gaps in coverage at the time day.
My  question is are the most of the full time ambulances still located at designated fire stations and are there still part time ambulances that are only in service during the busier hours and are they  located at street locations or are they also located at the fire stations?
I know that in the late 1990s  when Rural Metro had the contract the "power shift" or the busy hour ambulancs had been stationed at the San Diego Fire repair shops when they weren't on duty and they  would deploy from the Shops on Kearney Villa road and would fan out around the city when they would go into service in the midday time.
Does San Diego still run with designated BLS ambulances and do they run from firestations or are they located at hospitals or at street locations also?
Do you have the amount of and the current locations of  San Diegos Ambulance Units. 
Does Station 35 currently run with an Ambulance in its district and does Station 29 still run with 2 Ambulances? I recall that in the late 1990s an Ambulance had run out of LIndbergh FIeld out of the ARFF house and that it was designated as Medic 63. Is it still located and running out of Lindbergh Field?
Thanks.

Battalion 51 is one of Chula Vista's two duty BC's, Battalion 53 is Coronado and Battalion 57 is National City. Battalion 33 is a special duty Battalion Chief for San Diego Fire 

Here a are a few photos of the new BC rides for San Diego.
 
 

Monrovia (CA) Fire & Rescue is currently awaiting delivery of it's new 100 FT KME Tractor drawn aerial. Here is a photo from the KME Facebook page. 

Anaheim Fire & Rescue has a new TDA Quint for Truck 3.
Protecting the Disneyland resort.
Very nice looking.