There are a lot of emergency vehicles -- ambulances and fire engines -- in Pacific Palisades that seem to go in circles in responding to an emergency. Seems like they waste a lot of precious time. Are there guidelines as to the drivers having some knowledge of the streets, at least in their area? Emergency vehicle drivers
know their territories wellThe two officials we posed your question to would like to have specific times and locations if what you say is true. That's because their drivers are trained to know their areas.
"A lot of times a fire engine will come from one area and an ambulance from another area" and that may cause you to believe they're just going in circles, speculated Donnie Gates, chief of operations for city Emergency Medical Services.
But he assures you that the Emergency Medical Services staff, because they're usually assigned to a station for at least one year, "are very well acquainted with that district." Paramedics and ambulance drivers are also encouraged, in their spare time, to familiarize themselves with the addresses in their area, Gates said.
Fire Battalion Chief Kent Hamasaski, head of the Fire Department's communications center, believes you are "way off base." The job of drivers, as well as relief drivers, is to know their district, he said. "That's part of our drills every month -- location drills."
Other Kokua Line items:
Sprinklers at Kapiolani Park
