Crime & Safety

Interactive Map Shows Late Responses to Rancho Bernardo Emergencies

A new map lays out which areas received the slowest response times from emergency crews, a major problem for San Diego.

People often complain that calling 911 in an emergency is just the first step toward a long wait for help. Sometimes the wait only seems like forever due to the stress of the situation, but for thousands of San Diego residents—including many in Rancho Bernardo—the long delays are real.

Voice of San Diego has created a color-coded interactive map plotting tens of thousands of late emergency responses to high-priority medical calls by the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department over nearly two years.

"By their own standard, first responders have arrived late across the city more than 37,000 times to cardiac arrests, chokings, shootings and other highest-priority incidents during a 21-month period ending in March," according to the VOSD report. "First responders aim to arrive at medical emergencies within seven minutes and 30 seconds, nine times out of 10. They fall far short of that goal, even though the department relaxed its standards 20 months ago."

Firefighters and paramedics based out of Rancho Bernardo's Fire Station No. 33 are faced with the challenge of covering far more square mileage than any of the city's 46 other stations. Their territory extends more than 25 square miles from Camino del Norte past the San Diego Wild Animal Park. The station with the second largest coverage area—Station No. 24 in Carmel Valley—only covers 16.3 square miles. In fiscal year 2013, the RB crews responded to more than 2,600 incidents, 85 percent of which were medical calls. Overall, 87 percent of the fire department's calls are medical.

Check out VOSD's map (midway down the page) to see how quickly calls to your neighborhood received a response. Green points indicate responses between seven minutes, 30 seconds and nine minutes; yellow for nine to 11 minutes; and delays of more than 11 minutes are purple.


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