Santa Barbara County Fire Paramedics

Vehicle Rescue

In The Santa Barbara County Fire Department we have 15 stations in which every engine carries Advanced Life Support medical equipment. Within our system we have 6 "Core Stations". Each "Core Station" is staffed 24 hours a day and 7 days a week with paramedics and they never decrease this service. The other 9 stations operate with what are called "Extension Kits". These are medical bags that are unlocked when a paramedic is on duty at that station. Last year we had the "Extension Kit" stations staffed with paramedics 76% of the time. The reason we are able to staff these "Extension Kit" stations as often as we do is due to our numbers of paramedics. We currently have 54 well trained, professional paramedics including Firefighter/Paramedics, Engineer/Paramedics and Captain/Paramedics. The Department also has two stations that provide ambulance service and transportation for those in need. These are Station 51 in Lompoc and Station 41 in the Cuyama Valley. Station 51 also covers behind AMR (American Medical Response) in Lompoc City when AMR is out of their response zone. Medic 51 out of Station 51 covers behind AMR approximately 15-20 calls per month. M-51 is also sometimes tasked with providing long distance transfers from the Lompoc District Hospital to Santa Barbara and Goleta hospitals. Our Paramedics at Station 32 in Santa Ynez also are tasked with providing Advanced Life Support in association with our helicopters H308 and H309. If any other medical helicopter has an arrival time greater than 35 minutes then our helicopters are dispatched to the call. Our Paramedics will then provide Advanced Life Support treatment as well as transport the patient to the nearest hospital with the helicopter. Our Paramedics are only as good as their training and our Training Division working in association with the Departments EMS Coordinator is working constantly to improve the skills and quality of care provided our Paramedic staff.

Mock Drill
A neck brace is adjusted on a mock victim during a demonstration drill at UCSB showing the results of drunk driving.