EMS, Special Operations and Training

The Special Operations Division is very diverse and complex in its operation to support the entire San Bernardino County Fire District in many ways. This division is a combination of Training, Emergency Medical Services, Wildland Fire Suppression and Helicopter resources that are not assigned to a typical Fire Station. Each of these sections provides a tremendous amount of support to every division and employee of the fire district.

The Training Section provides a variety of specialized programs at all skill levels, from entry-level to top executives in the field of fire suppression. Courses can be conducted at our facilities, or delivered in the field in subject areas of Municipal Firefighting, Wildland Firefighting, Incident Command and Management, Hazardous Materials, Rescue, Emergency Medical, Urban Search and Rescue, Air Crash Rescue and Firefighting, Emergency Operations Center Training, Confined Space, Auto Extrication, and Flammable Gas and Liquid Firefighting.

The live drill facility offers hands-on live fire, collapsed buildings, tunnel systems, and hazardous materials, live actions props as well as a full size 727 aircraft. This “live action” training offers lessons that will not be forgotten. More than 100,000 hours of training are delivered each fiscal year to support the complex operations of all-risk firefighters from around Southern California.

The EMS Section is responsible for keeping up with the ever changing emergency medical mandates, equipment and program development for both advanced and basic life support education and training. Every firefighter in county fire has some level of emergency medical certified training that requires continuing education, recertification. Along with training individuals in EMS, this section is actively involved with many pilot programs in EMS such as the community paramedicine program.

The Wildland Section consists of hand crew firefighters and Heavy Fire Equipment Operators that are skilled at Fire Hazard Fuels reduction and wildfire suppression tactics. These specialized firefighters are a valuable resource to assist the fire suppression forces that are assigned to traditional fire stations. The hand crews spend the winters focusing on fire prevention by reducing live and dead hazardous fire fuels and the summers actively engaged with fire suppression so that fires are kept small and do not become an out of control wildfire whenever possible. The Heavy Fire Equipment Operations program uses bulldozers and other specialized equipment to aid in fire suppression, emergency flood mitigation and hazardous fire fuel reduction when needed.

Helicopter Program — This division also supports full-time paramedics assigned to the Sheriffs Aviation program to provide a more comprehensive County Air program that addresses rescue, emergency medical transportation and wildfire suppression efforts in the County. This partnership has proven valuable on many emergency incidents that require the use of a specially equipped helicopter with highly trained personnel.