San Diego Regional Fire and Emergency Services Foundation

The overarching goal of the Fire Foundation is to improve the system of fire and emergency medical services in San Diego County. There are four major goals which support this overarching goal.

a. Provide firefighters, volunteer and career, all the equipment and training necessary to effectively and
efficiently handle any emergency situation to which they are apt to be dispatched.
b. Provide communication equipment and technology to ensure there is maximum coordination and
cooperation among all fire agencies in the County.
c. Provide education to the general public about emergency services and safety information about what
they can do to help themselves prevent an emergency and what steps they should take if there is an
emergency
d. Work with all fire agencies and the general public about fire and accident prevention.

The primary strategy to accomplish the Fire Foundation goals is working with fire departments and other emergency personnel to find out what are the major challenges in the current system. Once each of these issues is determined, then develop a specific plan to reduce or eliminate the issue. Some strategies include:
a. Determine which fire departments are lacking key fire and medical equipment or training and then raise the funds to acquire that equipment or training.
b. Reduce response times by having 1) 7/24 coverage at fire stations versus volunteers responding from their homes and 2) dispatch systems with good on-line mapping and the ability to send the closest emergency vehicle without regard to district boundaries.
c. Determine the most common types of medical calls and provide the general public safety information that will reduce the occurrence of those types of emergencies.
d. Work with all fire agencies to improve interdepartmental coordination and cooperation, including the consolidation of departments or dispatch centers where economically feasible.

The Fire Foundation has been in existence since 1989 working with all fire agencies in our County as well as County governments to jointly determine ways to improve the system of fire and emergency medical services in San Diego County.
Our board members have the skills necessary to address all aspects of accomplishing our goals including: firefighting, medical, fundraising, finance, community and governmental access, communications, technology and public relations.
After the major fires of 2003 and 2007, the County hired a consultant to make recommendations to improve the system of fire response to major incidents and a task force of fire chiefs was formed to implement the recommendations. The Fire Foundation Board Chairman was included on that task force, and the consultant assigned certain public relations safety education responsibilities to the Fire Foundation.
The Fire Foundation continues to play a key role in bringing fire agencies, governmental organizations, businesses, individuals and non-profits together to discuss and resolve fire and medical first responder issues.

In its 28 year history, the Fire Foundation has played a significant role in all that has been accomplished in San Diego County to improve the system of fire and emergency services. Some specific examples include:
a. Raised over $5 million to purchase needed equipment and training for fire agencies.
b. Developed a bi-monthly newsletter, website and brochure which provide the general public information about emergency services in the County as well as fire and medical safety information and what individuals can do to protect themselves.
c. Worked closely with fire and governmental agencies to consolidate fire departments, including the formation of the County Fire Authority which has converted many volunteer fire stations to stations with career staffing, including having paramedics on duty.
d. Improved County-wide systems such as all fire engines having automatic vehicle locators and emergency medical incident kits. Work is continuing to improve mapping systems in rural areas as well as installing mobile data terminals in all fire department emergency vehicles.
e. Coordinate fundraising with all fire departments which have their own 501c3 supporting non-profit and working as a fiduciary for all fire departments without such a supporting non-profit, including Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) and fire safe councils.
f. Raised public awareness and funds to fix safety issues at schools where students were potentially in danger.