San Diego EMS Ambulance Locations

[firepost 15]

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.

Edited July 27, 2020 by firepost

[Rescue51 44]

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  

[Fumarin 6]

On 7/27/2020 at 5:44 PM, Rescue51 said:

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  

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