Less than 2 minutes after the Spokane Fire Department’s Alternative Response Unit pulled into Station 1 on Tuesday afternoon, the next call came in.
“This is the busiest rig in the city,” Lt. Gabe Mills said from the passenger’s seat.
The Alternative Response Units are dispatched to low-priority medical calls, and they have been busy during Spokane’s historic heat wave this week. ARU’s often see people who are dehydrated or have heatstroke, among other conditions, Mills said.
On Tuesday, a pizza delivery driver reported a man lying in the grass at the intersection of Superior Street and Mission Avenue. The ARU was dispatched at about 1:15 p.m. and arrived a few minutes later.
Firefighter Sean Condon got out of the truck and headed to check on the man in his 60s lying in the grass in the more than 100-degree heat, surrounded by a couple of water bottles, snacks and a bottle of alcohol.