KERN COUNTY, Calif., The Kern County Fire Department is pleased to announce that on Wednesday, November 15, 2023, it will expand the services it provides within Kern County. The new service will be in the form of Medic Squads assigned to serve unincorporated areas of Kern County.
Medic Squads will be staffed with Firefighter Paramedics and deployed in the unincorporated areas of Oildale and Rosamond. These two communities were selected based on their high call volume, which exceeds 10,000 calls per year. The KCFD Paramedics who will make up these new teams are highly trained and are capable of administering Advanced Life Support.
During a limited-time pilot program (FY 2022-23), implemented to determine the effectiveness of the Medic Squad concept, four lives were saved by rapid KCFD ALS interventions. Regarding the potential for lives saved, the benefits of this new service will be invaluable. Each Medic Squad will bolster the KCFD’s ability to provide high-quality pre-hospital care while keeping other firefighters and equipment available for other emergencies.
The concept of Medic Squads has been studied for years. Back on November 9, 2018, the first KCFD squad-based medic units were deployed. Over the years lessons were learned and the need for Medic Squads was never clearer. The ability to take this important step could not have been possible were it not for the successful approval of Measure K. Wednesday, Measure K funds will make the idea of providing ALS care to unincorporated areas of Kern County a reality.
