Orange County California

[hp1530]

Thanks, still a little confused though.

 

You state BLS ambulance for transport with engine medic(s) on board, but JFong's comment appeared to say that the paramedics on the "medic vans" transport with the patients.  Plus, several of the ambulances pictured are marked as paramedic units.  Are there both ALS and BLS ambulances operating in addition to the medic engines?

 

What's the reason for 2 medics on the "Paramedic" engines, but only 1 on the "Assessment" engines?  Is there a difference in the equipment both carry or some sort of operational difference other than 2 vs 1 medic?

 

 

Not criticizing in any way, just a right coast guy curious about how you lefties do things.

 

OCFA will usually dispatch the closest resource and a paramedic resource to medical calls. The paramedic resource can be a medic van (the Medic Ambulances), assessment or paramedic engine/quint. If the patient needs to be transported, then usually one of the medics will take their equipment and hop aboard the private EMT ambulance for transport to the hospital.

 

OCFA is a strange beast. The run both BLS and ALS ambulances with certain caveats.

 

The Ford van ambulances that are marked "Medic" are called medic vans and run with 2 paramedics and a full compliment of gear. Under normal circumstances, they will not transport (unless a PO or FF gets injured or there is an extreme case). Just think of them as similar to the paramedic squads of LA County.

 

OCFA also runs several Ford Type 3 box ambulances called "Emergency Transports" which are staffed by EMT in the cities of San Clemente and Westminster. In Westminster, OCFA owns and maintains the ambulance but it is run with EMT from a private company. In San Clemente, the city offers a subscription based ambulance transport program for its residents.

 

For all other cities/areas, patient transport is handled by private ambulance companies.

 

Assessment engines have 1 paramedic and no drugs while the paramedic engines will have 2 paramedics and the full compliment of drugs.