This weekend Fontana was busy, very busy. The city government planned their annual Fontana Arts Festival and their Sunset on Sierra events the same weekend the city ushered in the Hard Summer Music Festival. The Hard Summer Festival is a youth based rave/concert event that seems to exist for young people to get naked, high and drunk. Also the fact that this Music Fest has moved East due to the deaths of two event attendees in 2015 in Pamona would cause you to wonder why Fontana and San Bernardino County would host the event here? It all comes back to money and alot of it.
Well at least the event promoters Live Nation would learn from last years mistakes and work to create a safer environment for concert goers right? Nope according to a LA Times Article:
“Hard Summer, this year at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, is at a turning point in its nine-year history. The two-day festival faced an uncertain future in 2015, after two fans died of drug overdoses. That led to local government demanding that the fest leave the Pomona Fairplex (the family of one of the overdose victims is suing Hard Summer and its parent firm, Live Nation).
But instead of scaling back, the festival moved a bit east, raised its ambitions (Saturday had an estimated 70,000 fans) and booked its most incendiary lineup to date.”
As you can see in the video above the mayor of Fontana is very excited to have a event such as this now in the city of Fontana. So it makes you wonder how much money a life is worth to Fontana Mayor Aquentta Warren. According to her estimations on the possible incoming tax revenue the event will bring about $11 Million each. We say this because the Fontana Herald released a story this morning that 3 people have been reported dead at this years Hard Summer event.
“Three people died while attending the HARD Summer Music Festival at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana on July 30 and 31, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
One man and two women died, but the causes of death were not yet determined pending a coroner’s report, said Captain Horace Boatwright of the Fontana Sheriff’s Station. Two of the deaths were on Saturday and one on Sunday, he said.
Boatwright said there were a total of nine medical transports at the festival, which attracted 146,000 fans during the two-day event.
He said there were 325 arrests, mostly for public intoxication.
A total of 370 San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies were at the site, and 240 other law enforcement personnel were also there, Boatwright said.”
So three dead nine transported to the hospital and 370 arrests and that is acceptable? What type of message are our leaders sending to our young people? We spoke to former event security manager and public safety officer Duane who worked inside and outside of these events and he painted a dim picture.
“These events are used by most of the event attendees to use elicit drugs combined with alcohol and public sexual behavior. Most public safety agencies just can’t handle these events and in today’s culture of anti police mentality these events are even more difficult to control. We worked with staff that were tasked with sniffing out illegal substances at the Orange Show Electric Daisy Raves and even though they stopped massive amounts of drugs, alcohol and weapons substances made it into the venue regardless. Also parents of young ladies attending these events need to see the total lack of clothing that is worn at these events. Nothing about any times of rave is healthy for any community.”
So the question is why would the county and city approve such an event? It all goes back to money.
So 2016 is underway and with that comes the first round of Area Command meetings held by the Rialto Police department. With recent retirements and promotions the program has gone through some major changes. Normally change would be bad but these changes have moved key people into great leadership roles. The Area Command program is now anchored once again by to great and passionate leaders in Lt. Kurkusky in the south and newly promoted Lt. Smith in the north.
We missed the first Area Command Meeting on the south end but covered the Area Command meeting in the north and since they share the same info this is a great breakdown of what happened.
Over 50 residents filled up an assembly room at the Sunrise church on north Riverside Ave. The program began with newly promoted Lt. Smith introducing himself.
After Lt. Smith’s introduction he had officer Wilson come up and talk about the Operation Lifesaver Program. Though the programs ideas sound good some are leary of it. One reason that people are leary of this program is the fact that we’re tracking people and creating a regular access point into someone’s home (“to change the battery”). Second is the style of equipment used it’s very old tech and reminds us of what was innovative back in the 80’s. Finally getting grants are good but with every grant comes a long list of rules you must follow and some out there don’t trust Washington at all.
Next up was Cpl. Marquez who had the original task of overseeing the Rialto Reentry Program but now has a long list of other programs that have been added to his plate. The Reentry program is the first thing Cpl. Marquez spoke about:
Next Cpl. Marquez spoke about the next program that he oversees which is the Crime Free Multi Housing Program. This is a program that is aimed at keeping multi housing projects safe:
Next Cpl. Marquez spoke about the Nixle Program a program where you can get direct information from the police department. He also goes over the Text to Tip portion of the program.
Next Cpl. Marquez talks about the Homeless Outreach program and explains what him team will do in this program.
Next up Councilman O’Connell goes over his first quarter Rialto Rap Up. This is where he talks about what is important to the community and he makes himself available to questions from the community. Here is a copy of the Press Release he is reading from:
Officer Anderson was next up to talk to the community about the Inland Regional Center Terrorist Attack in San Bernardino. Officer Anderson is a longtime SWAT Officer and former K9 Handler. He and his team were in the main fight when the two ISIS Terrorists were shot and killed.
Rialto Fire on scene at the San Bernardino Terrorist Attack.
Officer Anderson also talks about the Foundation that makes the Rialto Police K9 program possible The Friends Of Rialto Police K9 he invites the community to interact with the K9 program through their Facebook Page.
Next the Terrorism Detective from Rialto Police gave us a terrorism threat assessment training of some sort that was a little confusing. We have heard this Detective give presentations before and they seemed to flow better. The title of the powerpoint and a lot of the information that was given didn’t seem to match up.
On January 29th the city held a community forum on a wide range of topics that matter to Rialto. The layout was different from other forums being people were given an opportunity to vote and speak on each topic. The evening wrapped up with Mayor Robertson asking if anyone from the crowd had any additional questions. The event was simple each person was given a clicker and was able to vote with multiple choice selections then make comments afterwards.
Looking back there were no questions on the failed water deal, on the distribution of Community Development Block Grants, on City Councils performance or on how the Measure “U” money will be spent. Why? Because the Mayor and her cohorts don’t want to hear what you feel on those issues. Well we want to know how you feel on one of those questions:
I was not able to attend due to my commitment to the Communities United Meeting that was the same night in Redlands but thanks to You Tube and Mr. Felton at Rialto Network we were able to see the results here:
Thanks to Mike Story you too can make your voice be heard in this online survey and answer the same questions that the people who attended to meeting did her:
Notice how none of the regular city people even gave them all excellant. Ask people this same question now that they see travel spending out of control, taxes being wasted and corruption poking its ugly head once again.
Here nobody gave the quality of life here in Rialto an excellent this is beyond sad because when I was a kid Rialto was a great place to be and live.
Yes shopping and eating are the greatest priorities to Quality of Life here in Rialto. So what does Rialto do they shove all the eateries into one small spot creating a traffic nightmare and further frustrate Rialto residents you see our City Council isn’t happy if you’re not upset.
This result worries me because with more warehouses comes more truck traffic and trucks don’t follow the rules of the road and they do major damage to our streets that will create another fee (TAX) and punish us because they refuse to allocate the proper funds to fix our roads.
You can’t read it but sit down restaurants once again led in the voting and I guess that is fine. You can only have so many restaurants before you need other business options to feed those businesses. I don’t know about you but I will shop at Target before I ever step foot in a Walmart or even a Super Walmart. With rude shaggy staff, dirty shelves and story after story of the crime a walmart brings due to their lazy policies on Loss Prevention. Oh and don’t forget even though San Bernardino leads the IE in deadly crime and gang activity they are getting a Golden Coral Restaurant later this year. Yes a restaurant that would do well in Rialto goes to San Bernardino.
Until the city figures out how to create a sales tax base for warehouses in Rialto I agree with None of The Above. The city wants to tax the residents to death because they see us as easy marks.
Rialto is easier to work with than most other cities and recent business owners to open up shop in Rialto attest to this fact. I’m sure after the recent elected officials settle in they will change that overnight.
Yes we think you should enforce property maintenance this is a silly questions. I love how someone doesn’t want to do their job they pass it off on the community to see if they need to enforce the rules or laws.
I would like to know what the city thinks Active Adult Community Housing is? Here is what google says it is:
Active adult communities are real estate developments that offer independent, relatively maintenance-free living to residents aged 55 and over. In “age restricted” active adult communities, 80% of homeowners must be 55 and over, while “age-targeted” communities simply market to the 55+ crowd. Many of the residents continue to work part or full time, which is why the term “active adult retirement communities” is less accurate. The residents are not opposed to children (or grandchildren!) either. Rather, the 55+ component simply assumes that people at the same stage of life probably share a few leisure-time interests and pursuits.
Not surprising that the largely elderly group voting would vote this way.
Wow you mean Rialto streets need to be worked on? Well of course they do but it seems like with the balance of power shifting to the side of corruption, money shifting and lavish traveling at the cities expense. Its so bad Councilman O’Connell had to eat his words when citizens told the council that the Trash Tax would not be an addition to current money spent on roads but a way to shift road money into pet projects to pay off favors to special interests.
Once again Street Maintenance wins out but good luck getting this council to do good things that will improve our lives here in Rialto.
If the 22 people want more free community events they need to bring their friends with with them our market nights had very low turnout numbers and our city refuses to work with anyone else to help make the Market Nights more appealing. Some of the community events are awesome and some are lame the lame ones tend to be the ones where outside help is not excepted at all.
Here is Joe Baca Jr. go to place he is Mr. Parks and he was MIA. The rails to trails is underway and costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars more than originally planned.
I would agree ask me about dispatch and thats a whole different story.
NO I don’t feel safe in Rialto. We are holding onto a low crime rate by holding back a flood with a bed sheet. We need to bolster our staffing within the police department, get our bars under control and finally get serious about the issues of San Bernardino crime rolling into our city.
Yes our police department is in a much better place with Chief Tony Farrar at the helm. He is an approachable person, a good leader and a great cop. One of the things I like most about Chief Farrar is that he doesn’t seem like he is on a fast track to a cushy political career like others that have recently left Rialto Police Department he is busy making our police department the best it can be with the resources he is given. Even as a big PD Supporter there are times I don’t see eye to eye with the police but the command staff isn’t against sitting down and hashing it out and talking about issues. In the end sometimes we have to agree to disagree but the respect remains because they took the time to hear you out.
I would agree with the 22 people that voted on this question. My question is why do we compare ourselves to other cities when it comes to safety or a justification to raise illegal taxes on the people of Rialto? Yet when you ask them to do a simple thing like figure out how to create a sales tax base opportunity from the numerous warehouses that are being forced on the community they throw thier hands up and claim they are trying their best? Well I’m sorry your best isn’t good enough anymore. If San Bernardino can get their warehouses to pay a separate tax to the city why can’t Rialto?
I believe our fire services are great. We use our own ambulances in most cases, fire fighters are kind men and women and Chief Mat Fratus is constantly working to make Rialto Fire an innovative part of Rialto.
I do believe one thing we need is a FREE class that teaches Basic CPR & First Aide because many people have no idea what to do when a friend or family member falls ill or is the victim of an emergency.
The Fireworks Enforcement in Rialto is horrible. The people we have working the Fireworks hotline could not hear or understand the callers, hung up on the callers and did not give the community confidence that our concerns were getting through. Then you have Rialto PD Dispatchers that kept pushing you off onto the deaf fireworks hotline operators it was a major fail. We owe it to our community and veterans to work much harder to:
Eliminate the use of illegal fireworks in the city by hitting our gang areas early and then looking at places where over the years there has been a constant flow of calls for service on a house or specific street. My street is a WAR ZONE every year with illegal fires, illegal fireworks and excessive drinking and drug use. Needless to say its not a family environment on my street the first week in July.
Create a major community event like Redlands does where the entire day is dedicated to family and community with a parade and fun zone ending with a massive fireworks show. We have massive stadiums at our High Schools and we can put together a quality event that people want to attend.
The Mayor made a statement that she is fine with taking the input of 22 people most of them city employees over looking for ways to get more input from more people. I can tell you why the numbers were so low:
No sense of urgency among the elected officials to get their camps excited about spreading the word about this forum. When the council wants something from you like funds for their campaign or your vote you can’t get them out of your face.
The Mayor and her council members don’t want to hear what you have to say unless its agreeing with them. If you disagree with them in any fashion they bark at you, make fun of you or try and shut you up.
It sucks but if you want people to show up you need to entice them with food and have their children involved in the event. They could have the recreation staff have a series of group activities for kids so parents could go and if we have some of our awesome young leaders involved in the process we could begin to expose them to the process and hear what they think Rialto needs.
To end it all you have Mr. Scott slamming Fontana saying that “they (Fontana) doesn’t care” he says this at 2:02 towards the end of the meeting well maybe they are not working with us because of comments like that Mr. Scott.
We need to get involved and show the Council that Rialto cares because if we don’t we will be on the fast track to being just like San Bernardino.
Well last Thursday the people of area’s 1&2 were treated to the first Area Command meeting of 2014. One thing that is clear that this is one of the regularly scheduled public venues that gets a little bit better each and every time. One component recently added to these meetings are the police department education meetings. The first one I remember is last year they had the staff from dispatch come out and educate the community on what dispatch does, why dispatch operates the way it does & how you can help the dispatcher answer your call as quickly as possible.
This year the special presentation is on our Investigative Unit how it operates, who makes up the staff, what their prospective duties are and some frequently asked questions that everyone found interesting and helpful. Even Area Command Leader Lt Karol gave everyone useful tips to help minimize your vulnerability to identity theft. We were presented with information from the following people:
Mike Story (City Administrator) – Went over the Mayors first public Q&A event with city dept heads, various activities that took place at the end of 2013. Mike Story also went over The Rialto Institute of Progress an 8-week program that will be held from March 6th to April 24th. Sessions will be held at the Rialto Civic Center in the Council Chambers from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. After completion, the community members will have an increased understanding of Rialto’s organizational structure, of the operations of our City Departments, and how they impact the quality of life in the City of Rialto.
Shawn O’Connell (Councilman) – Councilman O’Connell addressed his accident and thanked everyone for their support and prayers. Councilman also spoke about the new City Attorney and congratulated everyone in the city for their efforts to help make Rialto a better place to live.
Detective Stella & Detective Farmer (Rialto Police) – These two gentlemen gave us a look into the Investigations Unit and helped the people in attendance better understand how and why the Detectives do what they do. Lt. Andy Karol gave us a mini education on steps you can take to better protect yourself from identity theft.
Amy Crow (Waste Management) – Amy went over the senior & disabled person discount for trash services. She also highlighted the park cleanup schedule and other services the city offers like shred fest.
Linda (Cert) – Linda one of the training volunteers came up to introduce the CERT program. CERT stands for Community Emergency Response Training. The idea behind CERT and the importance of the program is in the event of a natural disaster EMS services will be primarily diverted to Schools & Hospitals leaving the communities on their own for up to 72 hours. CERT teaches you basic life saving skills and ways to gain shelter and safety as a Neighborhood unit.
Cpl. Cameron Nelson (Rialto Police) – Cpl. Nelson is the community liason officer for Rialto Police and came up to highlight some up coming programs. First was Golf With A Cop which gives kids ages 10-17 the opportunity to learn golf from a PGA player and other top notch golf instructors. An added benefit is if kids can hold a specific GPA they can play for free at Colton Golf Course all year long. Second was Fuel for Success a effort to get at risk kids to find the importance of staying in school and striving for excellence. The 2014 program will be held at Eisenhower High and will follow the look and feel of Rialto Police highly successful National Night Out program. The final presentation was on the Pride Platoon program that takes troubled, at risk or youth without direction and give them a program that is used to put them on the right track and give them needed tools for success in life. This program has been awarded multiple programs and cited as helping reduce our youth crime in the city of rialto.
Lt. Andy Karol (Rialto Police) – Lt Karol gave us a break down of some of the events that happened over 2013. He also showed us crime data that shows even though crime in California has increased crime in Rialto has decreased by 20%. He also introduced the Next Door Virtual Neighborhood Watch program. Next Door was created by venture capitalists to help communities connect in the biggest way we interact today via technology. Next Door is a FREE program and helps those communities where we don’t know our neighbors to connect. To sign up for Next door or learn more about it visit https://nextdoor.com/
Lt Kathy Thompson (Rialto Police) – Lt Thompson came up to introduce the public to the Police Community Program where residents are introduced to the inner workings of the police department and given a mini education into the job of a police department. As a former attendee of this and other similar classes with cities like Redlands, San Bernardino and the County of San Bernardino this program is top notch and gives you a awesome perspective on what our police do and how they do it.
The Area Command meetings are a vital tool in empowering the Rialto community to take a proactive role in helping make Rialto a great place to live, work & play. The information given at these meetings goes well beyond the presentations its extended to the wealth of information in the manner of the many flyers and printed materials available as well as the ability to talk 1-1 with people that help you with any given situation, problem or question.
If you missed this meeting your in luck there is another one coming up on Monday February 3rd at Calvary Chapel Rialto on the corner of Merrill and Cedar at 7pm. This meeting is geared towards the lower half of the city areas 3 & 4 (everything south of foothill) but anyone is welcome to come. Here are some flyers for your reference:
RIALTO — A man and woman were killed and two children were seriously injured early Thursday in a car crash police allege was due to road rage.
Rialto police say Yvette Pulido, 31, of Fontana got into a dispute with another driver at Cactus Avenue and the 210 Freeway at 12:16 a.m. That dispute continued southbound until the drivers reached the railroad tracks when a train was coming through, said Rialto police Capt. Randy DeAnda.
“The victim tried to flip a U-turn and (Pulido) intentionally collided into them,” DeAnda said.
Pulido then sped away and lost control on Cactus, sliding nearly 300 feet into a tree. The impact knocked out a large hole in the block wall behind the tree.
Pulido’s fiance, Martin Serrano, 32, of Bloomington was thrown from the car. He and Pulido were pronounced dead at the scene.
Rialto firefighters worked frantically to rescue Pulido’s 1 and 6-year-old sons, who became pinned in the back seat.
“We had to take off the whole roof and we had to move the front seat back to the front to access the kids in the back,” said Rialto firefighter paramedic Matt Payne.
Police said it appeared Pulido was trying to make a left turn onto Alru Street when she lost control. DeAnda estimated she was driving at least 80 mph.
“She was going way too fast,” DeAnda said.
The 6-year-old boy suffered broken legs in the crash and the 1-year-old received cuts and scratches.
“It’s a miracle that those children survived the crash,” DeAnda said. “The 1-year-old should have been in a child seat. He had just a seat belt on.”
Maryann Pabon and other neighbors gathered near the crash scene after San Bernardino County coroner’s personnel picked up Pulido and Serrano.
She said she heard the crash from her house nearby.
“We just heard a bang,” she said. “What really made me know something was wrong was my dog and my neighbor’s dog started going crazy with the sirens.”
Robert Hernandez, a friend of Serrano and Pulido, said the couple had been heading home, but didn’t know where they were coming from.
“They were going to get married and asked me to be the best man,” he said.
They had been engaged three months. Thursday was Pulido’s birthday.
He described Serrano as a hard worker who loaded and unloaded trucks for Kuehne and Nagel in Rialto. He got the job through an Ontario employment agency where Hernandez works.
Tonight is the City of Rialto’s Council Meeting. Below I have highlighted some of the items that will be on the Agenda Tonight.
We have 3 proclomations ranging from Public Safety to Earth Day.
PRESENTATIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS
Proclamation – National Public Safety Telecommunications Week.
Proclamation – Jazz Appreciation Month.
Proclamation – Earth Day.
This is on the Consent Calendar under Miscellaneous:
D.3 is spending another $5 Thousand to use full time referees verses part time referees becuase of a shortage of the part time staff. With unemployment still at all time highs why are we finding it hard to pay part time refs? Are we looking at all or are we simply taking the easy way out? www.facebook.com/InlandEmpireJobSeekers has about 10 job fairs listed in the Inland Empire I’m sure Rialto can find some part time refs there.
D.3
Request City Council to increase KCALS Officials Purchase Order 2013-0212
amount from $14,900.00 to $20,400.00 for KCALS Officials.
Looks like we will see some more work on how Elected Officals are paid for travel that always sounds good.
D.8
Request City Council to adopt Resolution No. 6247 revising Policy on
Reimbursement of Expenses of Elected Officials.
Now onto the Tab Items:
Tab 2 is a Grant that will allow us better staffing within our Fire Department. I am extremly happy with the Public Safety effort in Rialto to protect us while finding other sources of paying for that safety.
TAB 2
Request City Council to adopt Resolution No. 6240, 6241, and 6242,
Ratifying Acceptance of the FY 2012 Staffing for Adequate Fire and
Emergency Response (S.A.F.E. R.) grant from the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS)/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the
I think its vital that we show up to every single council meeting we possibly can. I have been MIA for the last 2 months but I try to watch them at home or on the internet. We must watch what is said and done becuase in the end we are the ones paying for the councils desicions.
One thing that I saw last meeting (via the Web) was how grossly we under estimated the costs of the In & Out Project. That project is now going to cost the city another $$600K+ because they under estimated the cost of the freeway sign and forgot to add in the cost of the Rod Iron Fence and Under Water Catch Basin for the project.
I want an In & Out but not at the cost of the taxpayers. I wish the city would have went to the leaders at the City of Highland Ca and learned how to build a In & Out without draining tax dollars.
The need for blood is constant and only volunteer donors can fulfill that need for patients in our community. Nationwide, someone needs a unit of blood every 2 to 3 seconds and most of us will need blood in our lifetime.Donors must be at least 18 years of agewith valid ID.
Thank you for supporting the American Red Cross blood program!
RIALTO: Officials saving ambulances for emergencies
STAN LIM/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Rialto Fire Department Firefighter/Paramedic Marcus Lynch helps guide in the cities ambulance after finishing up a call on Friday, Nov. 2, 2012 in Rialto. Starting Monday the fire department will be reserving its ambulances for true medical emergencies.
BY RICHARD BROOKS
BY RICHARD BROOKS The Press EnterpriseSTAFF WRITER
Anxious to keep his city’s three paramedic ambulances available for medical emergencies, Rialto’s fire chief no longer is sending them to treat broken fingers and other minor problems.
“I’m still going to send a paramedic to every call,” Chief Mat Fratus emphasized. “But I’m not going to send multiple paramedic units to every call.”
Beginning Monday, Nov. 5, dispatchers will assign only a paramedic fire engine to minor medical calls in Rialto. The aim is to keep the three Fire Department ambulances available for more serious emergencies, including heart attacks, strokes, injury traffic crashes and violent crimes because studies show that saving time reaching those calls tends to save lives.
Other agencies around Inland Southern California will track the new program in Rialto and assess its effectiveness.
The heart of the new system is San Bernardino County’s regional dispatch center, where call-takers have undergone more than 18 months of re-training to enable them to question callers more quickly and thoroughly.
“If you know more accurately what the problem is, you can more accurately assign the proper units,” said Rick Britt, director of the Confire communications center.
And the dispatching happens fast. Based on the new training, dispatchers ask specific questions in a specific order, beginning with the caller’s address and phone number — so if the call gets interrupted, they can still send firefighters or police to the correct location.
Then, the caller is asked the nature of the problem. If it’s a medical situation, the dispatcher immediately sends the nearest available paramedic fire engine.
If the patient’s not breathing, the dispatcher begins offering CPR instructions. Dispatchers also have a list of instructions for callers reporting, for example, suffocations, or attempted suicide-by-hanging.
And for all serious-injury or illness calls, an ambulance or additional fire engines will be dispatched.
“My dispatchers are the true first responders because they stat helping the caller immediately,” said Britt, whose staff serves 12 fire agencies, including San Bernardino County Fire Department and municipal fire departments ranging from Barstow south to Colton and from Redlands west to Rancho Cucamonga.
At least some of those agencies will be studying the results of Rialto’s experiment.
“What I’m picking up from the chiefs is that they’re all interested in it,” Britt said. “They want units available for the serious calls that require them.”
Traditionally, fire departments have sent two paramedic units to each 911 medical-aid call, regardless of how minor the injury or illness. In Rialto, a fire engine and an ambulance were dispatched. In other communities, the mix varies – sometimes two fire engines, or a fire engine and a paramedic squad, for example.
Fratus is confident that the so-called Medical Priority Dispatch System will work. He implemented the same system in San Bernardino, where he previously worked as Deputy Chief. His responsibilities included emergency medical service for that city’s fire department.
By cutting down the number of paramedic units sent to minor incidents in San Bernardino, response times to the most critical medical emergencies improved by roughly 30 percent, he said.
Britt’s dispatchers took the process one step farther, becoming the 169th emergency communications center to obtain full accreditation by the National Academy of Emergency Medical Dispatchers.
“My chiefs wanted us to be accredited before they take the risk in liability and modify the response,” Britt acknowledged. “There is some risk to it.”
By cutting back on the number of units assigned to a call, the door is open to criticism and legal liability, he said. But he believes the risk is minimal to patients and taxpayers. Under the new system, dispatchers have been trained to triage calls, in much the same way newly arrived patients are triaged at a hospital emergency room, he said.
“You only have so many (paramedic) units to put out there,” said Britt, who emphasized that officials simply want to avoid dispatching multiple fire engines to calls where they’re not needed. “In days of shrinking budgets, you can’t afford to do that anymore.”
rialtonow 
