San Bernardino Firefighters Won’t Arrive On Scene Without Police Presence
SAN BERNARDINO (CBSLA.com) — It has become so dangerous for first-responders in San Bernardino that they won’t respond to a scene unless there is a police presence at the location.
This week, firefighters were apparently across the street from a scene where a 12-year-old boy lay dying after being shot.
Firefighters were across the street but waited for police.
The story is frustratingly vague on whether the fire department held back because there was still shooting going on or if it’s just policy not to respond to crimes of violence without the police securing the scene first. Not that it really matters because getting shot it is not one of the dangers that fire personnel should have to face.
When I was working, for the most part our policy was similar. We’d respond, but hold short of the actual address until we were sure that the police were on scene. Which, for the record, is not the same as the police having secured the scene. More than once there were more angry bystanders than police and we’d just grab the patient and leave the scene. Not exactly what the protocols specified, but sometimes survival preempts what’s written on paper.
Elsa Castro is no doubt an expert on EMS response and provider safety. Or, she’s just an opinionated busy body. Yes, it was wonderful of her to cal 9-1-1, but that doesn’t give her any particular expertise from which to tell EMS how to respond to a dangerous scene.
The response by the spokeperson for the city was less than illuminating.
“There is a lot of crime going on in our city and obviously we want to respond to every call as quickly as possible. But our resources are down, the bankruptcy allowed for some cuts in the department, so we’re slightly understaffed,” Hards said.
It’s a shame that San Bernadino is bankrupt and can’t afford to field an adequate number of police to protect the public and responders. I fail to see how this fact requires fire and EMS providers to risk their lives unnecessarily.