North County Fire says hospital closure will impact ambulance service; drought continues to be a concern for fire risk

As the North County Fire Protection District looks forward to 2015, there are two significant issues that we will be watching closely and that will directly impact public safety – one is old and ongoing, the other is a new challenge.

The first challenge that faces us in the new year is the status of the drought that has plagued the Golden State for several years.

It has taken its toll on the beautiful groves that used to cover this area and it has contributed to significantly higher risk of severe wildland fires. Other than the serious outbreak of wildfires in May 2014, we did not face major wildfires in 2014 during our traditional fire season – the warm and windy late summer and early fall. It’s not that the brush wasn’t ready to burn – it couldn’t have been drier or more dead. Instead, we simply didn’t have much in the way of serious Santa Ana winds this past fall. Although we had numerous smaller fires, they did not grow to major size without the big winds we often see in the fall.

As we look forward to 2015, we will be watching to see what happens with the drought. How much rain will we get during our rainy months (January-March)? How much snow will fall in the Sierra’s? Will we continue with a significant drought or will our friend, El Nino, bring us the wet winter we need? If dry conditions continue and the drought worsens, we will need everyone’s help to keep our community safe. Plan now to clear the brush on your property and do whatever you can to make your properties fire safe.

The second – and new – issue we will be focusing on in 2015 is the impact of the closure of Fallbrook hospital on the ambulance service operated by the fire department.

As most know by now, Fallbrook Hospital has closed as a full-service general hospital, and that includes the emergency department. We are just one of many suburban communities in California and across the country that have seen a hospital close.

The good news is that it isn’t the end of the world – we have other hospitals close by. However, it does have an impact on our ambulance service. In the past, approximately 60 percent of our ambulance transports were taken to Fallbrook. The typical commitment time for an ambulance going to Fallbrook was about 50 minutes. Transports to Palomar, Tri City, or Temecula can take nearly twice as long – up to 90 minutes – before the ambulance is back in Fallbrook and ready for another call. The bottom line is that our ambulances will be gone more often.

Our system has a number of safeguards to assure we have the necessary emergency medical resources available. First, we staff three ambulances every day with full paramedic/advanced life support (ALS) capability. We also have extra ambulances and personnel and can deploy additional ambulances on an as-needed basis.

Second, every one of our fire engines is staffed with at least one paramedic and full ALS equipment. Basically, they can do everything that the ambulance can do – except take the patient to the hospital. So we can still provide the highest level of care, even when our ambulances are busy.

Third, all of the fire departments here in the North County have mutual aid agreements where we share resources and help each other out when we get busy. All of the agencies around us also operate ALS engines and ambulances and if all of our folks are busy, we can be assured that help is on the way from Pala, Deer Springs, Vista, Oceanside, or Camp Pendleton.

We are closely monitoring the situation and will take additional steps, if needed, to make sure that we can continue to provide the highest level of emergency care to our community.

Of course, we will have the normal day-to-day challenges of meeting service demands as we continue to recover from the financial downturn of the last few years. The good news is that we navigated through that difficult time without having to close any stations or lay anyone off – something that not many fire departments were able to accomplish. In fact, we completed construction in 2014 on our first new station built in 40-plus years – the new Station 5 in Bonsall.

Again, thanks to everyone in Fallbrook, Bonsall, and Rainbow for partnering with us to keep our communities safe. While we hope we don’t have to visit you in 2015, we are here if you need us.