San Marino Fire Department’s fire engine is now a fully equipped paramedic engine. Engine 91 now carries all the paramedic supplies found in an ambulance including items like IV therapy supplies, pain management drugs, a cardiac monitor and cardiac drugs.
The new paramedic designation, which was received this week from the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency, enables the engine to respond to a call without an ambulance and treat a wider array of medical cases including asthma, a heart attack and broken bones.
San Marino Fire Chief Mario Rueda, who was very enthusiastic about Engine 91’s new paramedic capabilities, attributed the department’s successful transition to the “good hearts and good brains” of the department’s fire fighters.
“We’ve raised the bar on hiring,” said Chief Rueda, noting that all new hires must have paramedic and firefighter credentials.
SMFD’s firefighters each have 1,500 hours of paramedic training and receive an additional eight hours of continuing education every month from the UCLA Paramedic School.
Paramedic Coordinator and Firefighter/Paramedic Jeff Tsay said Engine 91’s added capability will be helpful in situations when an ambulance is out of the station and another call comes in, which was the case during the time of this interview.
“The problem is, like right now, the ambulance is at a hospital. If we get another call in the city we have to rely on another city’s ambulance to respond to the call,” said Tsay.
He continued, “That might take four to five minutes, but now that we have all the equipment we can basically operate at the same level as an ambulance. That’s going to be a huge benefit for the residents of the city.”
Before this change, the truck only had first aid capabilities and an assortment of drugs. Now the Paramedic Engine is capable of transmitting EKG information to the Cath Lab at Huntington Memorial Hospital, allowing doctors to read an EKG before a heart attack patient arrives.
In order to be compliant with L.A. County Department of Health Services (DHS) codes, the engine must have two paramedics in the back of the engine. The DHS requirement may require that four firefighters, instead of three, respond to a call.
Tsay said it was not easy fitting all of the paramedic supplies on the engine, but they managed to make it work with some small adjustments.
“It was kind of a Tetris game to try to put all of that stuff in here” he said pointing between the ambulance and the engine. A firefighter even welded a diamond plate compartment on top of the engine to store backboards.
Next time Engine 91 is around town, look out for the paramedic and gold leaf decals that now grace the side and back of the engine indicating its recent promotion.
