FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Emergency
Ambulance Service responds to Train Collision in Placentia, CA
Placentia, California — April 23, 2002 - The Orange County Fire
Authority initiated a multiple unit response by Emergency Ambulance Service
(Emergency) on April 23, 2002 for a multi-casualty
incident. Emergency’s units responded to a collision between a
Metrolink commuter train and a mile-long freight train just after 8:11 a.m.
Currently, the crash is under investigation by the National Safety
Transportation Board. Up to 300 people were on the commuter train
according to statements made to the media by a Metrolink spokesperson. The accident resulted in the deaths of two
persons and injured some 180 persons, 73 of whom were transported to area
hospitals by ambulance.
Field Supervisor Andi Silvas said, “About 30 people were transported by
Emergency.” Emergency Medical Technicians from Emergency, Care,
Medix, Doctor’s, Schaefer, Lynch, and AMR ambulance services assisted Orange
County Fire Authority Paramedics with treating the victims. Additional personnel included management and
professional staff from Emergency and Care.
Eric Somers, Emergency’s Communications Center Supervisor advised “that at one point up to 55 ambulances were dispatched to the incident by cooperating ambulance providers, some from as far away as Rancho Cucamonga.”
Emergency deployed units from Brea and surrounding areas consisting of 16 ambulances, its Orange County division field supervisor unit, and three members of its senior management team. Thirty-Six team members provided staffing for medical triage and transport. Although all patients were treated and transported by 10:35 a.m., Emergency’s field supervisor and ambulances remained on site in case of injury to any firefighter or other person.
When
interviewed, Jim Karras, Emergency’s General Manager and a 20-year veteran of
the ambulance industry said, “Emergency and all other Orange County ambulance
providers have regularly drilled for incidents such as this.” “Since the tragic events of last September
11th we have stepped up our training and people saw the results of
that training today.”
Family-owned and operated since 1977, Emergency Ambulance Service, Inc. has 12
ambulance deployment centers located throughout Los Angeles and Orange
Counties. Emergency provides Emergency Basic Life Support and
Nurse-Staffed Critical Care Transportation in Los Angeles and Orange Counties,
and Advanced Life Support Paramedic ambulance service throughout Los Angeles
County. The company also provides 911 primary emergency ambulance
services to six of the cities it operates in, as well as providing back up 911
service to several surrounding communities.
For further information contact:
Chad Druten, Director, Government Affairs
Emergency Ambulance Service, Inc.
3200 East Birch Street, Suite A
Brea, CA 92821-6258
Tel: (714) 990-1742
Fax: (714) 792-3650
E-mail: ChadDruten@emergencyambulance.com
URL: http://www.emergencyambulance.com
