SMFD Touts ‘San Marino Way’ in Annual Report

San Marino Fire Chief Mario Rueda began his 2019 annual report to the community by issuing an apology, a first for the four-year veteran, who has an impeccable record of punctuality.
“I apologize for the tardiness of the report,” Rueda wrote. “As we started the preparation, our nation faced a new disease that has changed every part of our lives.”
Give Rueda full marks for both honesty and understatement.
While only briefly mentioned in the 20-page document, the COVID-19 pandemic was the cause of some of Rueda’s most significant moments of pride during the past several months.
Rueda mentioned a brief presentation he was asked to deliver at an otherwise pedestrian meeting of the Rotary Club of San Marino this past February, where the chief first posited the notion of “social distancing” to the befuddled members and guests.
“I remember the looks I got were like ‘you are out of your mind,’” Rueda said in a phone call Monday afternoon. “People were not concerned at all.”
All that has obviously changed and the SMFD’s response to the pandemic has become a highlight of the past several months, even though it was not technically a part of the annual report.
“I am very proud of this city’s response,” said Rueda, who is charged with formulating San Marino’s emergency operations strategy. “We were able to get a jump on ordering our emergency equipment, aligning our department heads and declaring an emergency. We opened the Emergency Operations Center and activated our emergency hotline. This was all in conformance with a disease response plan that is in our EOC, and it is all-encompassing.”
The annual report, which is available at the SMFD and online, presents data on call types and volume, community involvement, training and emergency medical services. The report shows that in 2019, the SMFD responded to 1,918 incidents, a 3% increase in total call volume from 2018. But as a result of negotiation with the other departments in the Verdugo Dispatch System mutual aid system, the response area for San Marino’s rescue ambulance RA 91 was reduced in 2018, meaning the ambulance remains available for more emergencies within San Marino. In 2018, the SMFD responded to 37% fewer calls outside its jurisdiction. In 2019, out-of-jurisdiction calls fell an additional 5.5%.
“Although reducing responses of RA 91 outside of the city does reduce ambulance revenues, it improves the availability of the ambulance for San Marino residents,” Rueda said.
The SMFD also showed a solid record in the timely response to fire and EMT calls, with 78% of ambulance calls meeting or exceeding its time targets for leaving the station and 88% of fire requests. He explained that industry standards for response times have changed and San Marino’s have gotten “dramatically better.”
Additionally in 2019, the SMFD responded to a total of 407 fire incidents, with 222 of those occurring within city limits. San Marino firefighters responded to seven fires that were extinguished with either one, two or three fire engines, with two of the structure fires requiring a full mutual aid response from neighboring agencies.
San Marino firefighter/paramedics responded to 1,419 incidents in 2019. Rueda told The Tribune that the most frequent request for service came about as the result of falls. In all, 746 patients were transported by RA 91 to local area hospitals in 2019.
The report also stated that San Marino firefighters commit a minimum of two hours each day to training on topics and tasks essential to the safe and effective delivery of emergency services in the community. San Marino firefighters completed a cumulative total of 5,613 hours of training, including fire suppression, rescue, hazmat, vehicle extrication and EMS continuing education in 2019. In addition, all firefighters are required to maintain current paramedic certification with the state of California and county of Los Angeles.
Rueda said he receives “a lot of questions about public safety” and values the annual report.
“I am pleased to publish our records to tell our residents that we are doing things right, we are on the ball, and they are getting a lot for their money,” said Rueda. “They pay an extra tax here and that should equate to premium service.”
What the report cannot show, according to the chief, is any measure of the department’s “culture.”
“We are caring, compassionate and are doing everything we can to take care of our residents, and that doesn’t happen everywhere,” Rueda concluded. “Regardless of its nature, our staff never denies a request. We refer to our service as doing things the ‘San Marino Way.’ This motto is our foundation of being respectful, hardworking and service-oriented.”
He also claimed that in 2019, members of the SMFD contributed 662 personnel hours to community outreach and public education.
The annual report will be formally presented to the Public Safety Commission on Monday, July 6.