Getting emergency attention quickly and efficiently to anyone in distress at a city festival, parade or sporting event has never been easier now that the Sierra Vista Fire Department has outfitted its firefighter/paramedics with mountain bikes equipped with almost everything an ambulance has.
The EMS Bike Patrol is not a new idea for the fire department, said Fire Chief Brian Jones, but it’s been brought back with two new mountain bikes and a revamped Polaris Ranger vehicle designed to zip in and out where no ambulance can go.
“We’re back in the bike patrol business,” Jones said. “Mainly from an access standpoint it’s the best possible way for us to be safe and effectively get into a location when there’s huge crowds. The bike patrol would be able to do anything that anybody in the ambulance would do. They have the ability to assess and treat with advanced life support (ALS) if needed.”