 CAMARILLO — The Ventura County Fire Department placed four rescue ambulances into service today in Camarillo, Santa Paula, Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley to improve service for people experiencing medical emergencies.
The ambulances are assigned to Station 50 in Camarillo, Station 26 in Santa Paula, Station 30 in Thousand Oaks and Station 41 in Simi Valley. They are staffed by the firefighter paramedics who had been assigned to squads at those stations. The new rescue ambulances allow those paramedics to continue their existing work and provide vital transportation service to patients when emergency activity creates potential delays in transport to a hospital.
“After initial assessment and medical assistance, it is important to get patients who need higher levels of care to the hospital quickly,” Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said.
In those instances when the county’s emergency response is experiencing high call volumes, fire department paramedics would use a rescue ambulance to transport the patient.
“Our goal is to help the emergency medical system and get patients to the hospital quickly so they can get the care they need,” Gardner said.
Rescue ambulances carry all the equipment firefighter paramedics use when they operate advanced life support squads. Paramedic squads routinely respond to medical emergencies, structure fires, traffic collisions, and technical rescues within their designated response area.
Medical emergencies account for about 75% of the fire department’s calls for service. In 2022, the department responded to 40,550 medical calls for service.
For more information about the Ventura County Fire Department, visit our website at www.vcfd.org |
