Why is this important?
Appropriate response to emergencies can save lives and property.
Wildland fires constitute the most significant major disaster threat
in the county. In addition to services traditionally provided by
most fire protection agencies nationwide, the county has the responsibility
of addressing severe wildland fire protection. To complicate the
problem, tens of thousands of structures are interspersed within
the wildland area.
What is the measure?
Emergency medical, rescue, and fire protection services are primarily
provided by the seven fire protection districts, Tuolumne County
Fire Department (TCFD) and Sonora City Fire Department. Tuolumne
County Ambulance Service provides advanced life support emergency
medical services. We measured the total number of incidents to which
each jurisdiction responded, including assistance to other jurisdictions.
How are we doing?
In recent years, emergency fire and emergency medical services (
EMS) incidents increased at a higher rate than the rate of increase
in resident population and visitors to the area.
Volunteer firefighters are not as plentiful or as available as in
the past. Tighter requirements, longer training hours, and ever-diversifying
responsibilities of firefighting have whittled the county’s
volunteer rosters down. The various fire protection agencies are
extremely dependent upon one another to meet emergency incident staffing
needs.
A single emergency often diminishes fire protection in a majority
of the core area of the county, and other resources are often brought
in from outside the County. Having the resources needed for a second
significant emergency can be a challenge.
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