Paramedic move leaves Malibou Lake worried

By Stephanie Bertholdo
bertholdo@theacorn.com

Fire officials tried to calm fears last week about the relocation of a paramedic squad in Agoura Hills that some residents say would delay emergency response times to locations south of the 101 Freeway.

The meeting, sponsored by the Los Angeles County Fire Department and the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, took place at the Malibou Lake Mountain Club in Agoura.

Assistant Fire Chief Reggie Lee conducted the meeting, supported by representatives from Yaroslavsky’s office and other fire department personnel.

Currently, the regional paramedic squad is housed in Fire Station

65 on Cornell Road. The squad will move to the new Station 89 on Canwood Street when construction is completed, possibly by the end of this year.

Lee said the new location allows the Fire Department better access to residents living on the north side of the freeway.

He added that although the paramedic squad would be located on Canwood, each fire station, including No. 65, has its own engine, which is considered the "first responder" in an emergency.

"The engine gets there first," Lee said. "They find out if there is a need for a paramedic."

Each engine, Lee noted, has an automatic electric defibrillator, which is used on people who’ve had a heart attack. All EMTs know how to operate the machines and are trained in life-saving measures, he said.

One resident asked whether "there would be a gap between what we would have received versus what we might receive at the new station."

Lee quelled residents’ fears with a detailed report on how the Los Angeles County Fire Department operates. He explained that the regional resources in the Santa Monica Mountains area include 11 fire stations with four regional paramedic squads.

Agoura Hills City Councilman John Edelston said residents on the south side of the freeway would not be ignored.

"One third of responders are still south of the freeway," Edelston said.

Lee also presented statistics on the amount of emergencies experienced in each city within the region. From Sept, 2001 through Nov., 2004, Agoura Hills had 2,544 emergencies that required a call to the fire station. In the unincorporated area of Agoura during the same time period, only 353 calls were made.

Of the estimated 6,431 regional emergencies that Station 65 recorded, 54 percent of those calls had eight minutes response time. From the new station, Lee said that response time from the new station would reach 81 percent of the emergencies in the same "eight minute street crawl (traveling at 24.5 mph)."

"Squad 65 will be called Squad 89, but they will remain your paramedics," Lee said.