By Mike Martinez
Inside Bay Area
Copyright ©2007 Inside Bay Area
Advanced Life support services expanding in Tracy fire district
MOUNTAIN HOUSE, Calif. — Paramedic-trained firefighters are now working out of the Mountain House fire station. The station is the latest such facility to go paramedic. Advanced Life support services have spread throughout the Tracy area in a little over a year and now half the stations in the fire district carry paramedic-trained firefighters.
“Mountain House is a little further from the hospital and it’s a growing community,” Tracy Fire Division Chief David Bramell said. “If you think about it, it also provides us with an ALS unit on the west end giving us a more even distribution.”
Advanced Life Support was introduced as a pilot program to the Tracy Fire Department in 2003 at Station 93 in Vernalis — the station with the largest coverage area but also the fewest calls — before spreading to other stations in 2006.
The first station to “go paramedic” in Tracy was Engine 97, located at 595 W. Central Ave., in July followed by Engine 96, housed at 301 W. Grant Line Road, in October.
Bramell said the goal is provide ALS at each station by the spring of 2009.
“I think we’re progressing nicely,” Bramell said. “This is the third company we have converted. I think we’re moving at a comfortable pace which will get us to our goal in sufficient time.”
The deal with American Medical Response, a private ambulance service, allows them to meet or exceed response time requirements by “stopping the clock” when firefighters with the additional training arrive at emergency calls.
AMR pays the paramedic bonus of the firefighter, provides the necessary equipment, and restocks medical supplies on responding vehicles.
There are currently 14 paramedic-trained firefighters in the Tracy Fire Department, and Bramell anticipates the number could reach 21 — nearly 30 percent of the sworn staff — withinthe next year through training and new hires.
In an emergency, brain death can occur in the first four to six minutes of an accident making response time critical, Bramell said.
Our catch phrase has been providing ALS allows us to bring the emergency room into the living room,’” Bramell said. Quite frankly, I really honestly believe ALS is a higher level of service that can make a difference in survivability.