Trending Topics

Calif. FD places ALS squad in high call volume area

The Kern County Fire Department designed Medic Squad 42 for rapid use and resupply

The Bakersfield Californian

KERN COUNTY, Calif. — The new Medic Squad 42 apparatus was put into service Wednesday, replacing a temporary vehicle to serve an area of east Bakersfield that gets more than 5,000 emergency calls annually, according to the Kern County Fire Department.

Medic Squad 42, which began operating Jan. 12, is the third KCFD unit of its kind. It is assigned to Station 42.

It is staffed by a firefighter paramedic and a fire captain to provide 24-hour Advanced Life Support coverage, “enhancing the department’s ability to deliver critical pre-hospital care while ensuring surrounding stations remain available for additional emergencies,” KCFD said in a news release.

Measure K funds have allowed the department to increase ALS staffing with 13 additional paramedics in unincorporated areas of the county.

© 2025 The Bakersfield Californian (Bakersfield, Calif.)
Visit www.bakersfield.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Trending
Pilot and copilot killed after an Air Canada regional jet struck a fire truck crossing a runway at New York’s LaGuardia Airport
With response times exceeding 9 – 25 minutes in some rural areas, lawmakers are backing a bill to create a public EMS dashboard to improve transparency and guide resource allocation
Police are treating the fire that damaged four ambulances belonging to a Jewish volunteer organization in London as an antisemitic hate crime
Launched to prevent a gap in advanced life support coverage after Exeter Hospital’s withdrawal, the Plaistow- and Brentwood-based system now serves about 30 communities