Anonymous- I just noticed that you added to your post.....

Harvey is all about money, but the medics that he employees care about the people they treat as well.  You act as if they don't and that only the FD will be this saving grace of empathy and compassion. The only person that should have shame is you. I'll make sure I forward this to all the ambulance medics in Kern.

So now we're resorting to putting words in people's mouths( there seems to be an epidemic going around)........nice!  You go ahead and send this to all the ambulance medics and while you are at it send all my other posts (on different blogs on here) that praise them for the great job they are doing. Sound fair.

Also if you are going to say you are bringing facts to the table will you please do so because so far you've given out so much false info it's mind boggling.

If you want to sound like you know what you are talking about here are a few FACTS you should know.....

1.) There already is a full time Kern County fire station in Frazier Park! Surprise!

2.) The FD run on all medical calls placed through 911....how can you NOT know this???

3.) All FD personnel have to stay current in their EMT status( this means training) and if they were medics the same would be true.

4.) Tehachapi Fire Dept. was dis banned because they were providing parallel services to KCFD. Funding had nothing to do with it ......it was a waste of money.

5.) BFD and KCFD aren't that busy???.......when was the last time you did a ride along?

 I do work for KCFD and my name is Ryan Moore, so I’m not hiding.

I think that this issue has been drawn out so much that the real basis has been missed. The real issue is the level of care that we can provide to the public. This is not an ambulance service versus fire department issue. There are no intentions of taking over patient transportation from the current ambulance companies, and the fact is we will always need ambulance companies to provide the transportation aspect.

In the field level the relationship between ambulance companies and fire personnel is good in my opinion.  There is a mutual and professional respect. We do what we can to help them on scene and they do what they can to help us. It seems like the issue lies in the upper management of one particular ambulance company.

By the fire department receiving paramedic/firefighters the level of care can only increase. Every medical aid call, with the exception of some private requests made directly to the ambulance company, the fire department will respond and this will always occur regardless if we get paramedics or not. There are times that the ambulance gets on scene first and waves us off because they can handle the call by themselves, sometimes all that manpower is not needed but it is always started.

With long response times in some areas in Kern County having a firefighter paramedic seems like a no-brainer. Take Lost Hills for example. Any medical aid or car wreck the ambulance comes from Wasco. Wasco is 18 miles from Lost Hills so anything in the city of Lost Hills takes at least 15-20 min for ALS to begin. Anything outside of the city takes even that much longer. Now response times are a good argument for having firefighter/paramedics in the KCFD. But like I said in the beginning this is about level of care to patients, and patient care is more than just response times.

Now lets move back to Wasco where I work. The ambulance is almost right next door to us. Their response time is pretty much identical to the fire department. Either we are leading them or they are leading us. Say we both arrived on scene at the same time and are working the scene of a full arrest, now we have two paramedics on scene. One paramedic from Kern ambulance and one from KCFD. There is so much going on that a second paramedic is a real treat to have. One could be starting an IV and pushing medications and the other could be intubating. The engineer or captain from the fire department can be doing chest compressions and the emt on the ambulance can be getting the gurney ready to put the patient on. That is teamwork right there. Two highly trained paramedics backing one another up providing the best chance the patient can have.

The next scenario is a car wreck with multiple patients. On a typical car wreck you get 1 Battalion Chief 2 Fire engines or 1 Fire engine and 1 Truck and 1 Ambulance. As it is now with that response you get 1 paramedic. If there were firefighter/paramedics on the fire department equipment you would get 3. If there are multiple patients 1 paramedic is going to get stretched thin. Him or her can only go so far. With 3 a more appropriate level of care can be initiated.

We are interested in public safety since that is our job. If there is a tool out there that can help us do our job better and provide a better service to the public and possibly save a life then it should be criminal to deny us the tool.

What affect will this have on ambulance companies serving Kern County? Absolutely none. They will still be providing the transportation aspect of EMS and will still need paramedics to do so. Nothing changes for them. Will the firefighter/paramedic program cost the taxpayers money? I’m sure it will. But if even one life is saved due to the better service they received then it was worth all the money in the world. How much is the safety of your family and friends worth? We wont be able to save them all but doesn’t everyone deserve a real fighting chance?

Another Hall flip flop. How many sides of his face can this man speak out of? Let's play a game with this one. Its called "How Many Discrepancies Can You Find In The Hall Ambulance Official Stand In This Article." It sounds a lot like the Tehachapi City Council regarding the fire protection issue. If they can't have their way, they take their toys and go home. Only these toys save lives and property. Shame on all of you.

Hall's Pine Mountain Club station to close

BY JASON KOTOWSKI, Californian staff writer
e-mail: jkotowski@bakersfield.com | Monday, Sep 10 2007 9:40 PM

Last Updated: Monday, Sep 10 2007 9:44 PM

Hall Ambulance Service will be closing its Pine Mountain Club station Oct. 6 for reasons including a lack of support from some members of the community.

The company will continue to provide service to the area from its unit in Frazier Park, said Mark Corum, Hall's director of public and media relations. The Pine Mountain Club station has been operating on weekends for the past year and a half.

The station is closing because of low call volume, unreimbursed costs and a change in direction with new leadership for the Pine Mountain Club community, Corum said. Bakersfield Mayor Harvey Hall, owner of Hall Ambulance Service, said in a news release that keeping the station open required the continued support of everyone involved.

Some residents of the south county mountain community have been upset with the service they've received. They have asked for coverage by county firefighters trained as paramedics so people could get immediate care while the ambulance was on its way.

"We have a saying, 'Don't get sick during the week,' because the ambulance isn't here," said resident Frank Sanchez.

A firefighter paramedic is what the community needs, he said.

Kern County Fire Chief Dennis Thompson has said he was looking into the issue, according to archived stories in The Californian. Thompson could not immediately be reached for comment Monday evening.

Corum said a firefighter paramedic won't do residents much good unless they also have the proper transportation to get a patient to a hospital as quickly as possible.

As for Hall ambulances not arriving quickly enough, Corum said the company has met the county's standards and that ambulance companies have no control over the various time limits that have been set for reaching different types of areas. Also, when an ambulance covering the Pine Mountain Club area is called away, another replaces it so the area is never without coverage.

Supervisor Ray Watson wasn't surprised the station was closing.

"The community hasn't been very welcoming to Hall so I can understand why they would not want to continue that service," Watson said.

Things will just go back to the way they were before the station opened -- with Hall operating out of Frazier Park -- so residents won't be left in the lurch, Watson said.

Corum said there were only 52 calls for service in the Pine Mountain Club area during the past 15 months. Of those, 22 were non-transport calls.

The company collected less than $30,000 on the calls that were completed, but spent $260,000 on wages, rent, utilities and equipment upgrades, Corum said.

In June, Kern County supervisors approved new performance standards for the ambulance companies that operate in the county. Ambulances must arrive within time limits 90 percent of the time or risk losing their contract with the county. Hall Ambulance has met those standards.

The typical double talk from the Halls propaganda machine..  It's time for fifrefighter/paramedics.

First of all, Corum finally admits it's all about the Benjamin$$, not the people in Harv's special places.  No money, no service, plain and simple.  I am sure Watson is ok with this as he is mostly like trying to get a job with Hall's when he gets bounced out of office.  Corum obviously has a beef with the fire dept as he makes another inaccurate statement.  If ff/pm's can get on scene rapidly and stabilize a patient before an ambulance, isn't that a good thing???  Stabilize the patient than transport, kind of like the ambulances do.

It will be interesting to see what happens in Harvs's other special place regarding ambulances.  What will Mabens opinion be?  Will Hall keep both ambulances running if and when he opens the Golden Hills post?  Only time and $$ will tell...........