The new paramedic designation, which was received this week from the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency, enables the engine to respond to a call without an ambulance and treat a wider array of medical cases including asthma, a heart attack and broken bones.

San Marino Fire Chief Mario Rueda, who was very enthusiastic about Engine 91’s new paramedic capabilities, attributed the department’s successful transition to the “good hearts and good brains” of the department’s fire fighters.

“We’ve raised the bar on hiring,” said Chief Rueda, noting that all new hires must have paramedic and firefighter credentials.

SMFD’s firefighters each have 1,500 hours of paramedic training and receive an additional eight hours of continuing education every month from the UCLA Paramedic School.

Paramedic Coordinator and Firefighter/Paramedic Jeff Tsay said Engine 91’s added capability will be helpful in situations when an ambulance is out of the station and another call comes in, which was the case during the time of this interview.

According to police the woman crashed the ambulance and got into a fight with a pursuing officer.

The 4,100 square foot building was built over 50 years ago, but modern equipment is now pushing the boundaries of what the facility can store.

Corey Maricle, the Windom Mayor and Volunteer Fire Fighter, says, "Actually, if we have snow we have to shovel out in front of the door before we take it out otherwise it'll hit the ceiling. So it's pretty important that we do something different."

To compensate, the water tanker is stored off-site and additional buildings have been built to house some of the vehicles.

The city has drawn up a proposed fire and ambulance building with Brunton architects at an estimated cost of $4.57 million.

Nasby says, "It was a trade-off there that we were having to make, but, yeah, there was a number of citizens that were not happy with that."

The city has $1 million from the Ambulance Fund.

Windom is seeking $2.2 million in state bonding funds and is currently on the Senate bonding bill, but is still seeking to get the project added to the House and Governor's bonding bills.