A coordinated response by emergency responders from several different agencies helped rescue an elderly woman from her burning home in the Dry Creek area of unincorporated Western Placer County. Units from Placer County Fire Department/Calfire, Roseville Fire Department, Sac Metro Fire and American Medical Response all responded on the first alarm in a successful example of multi-jurisdictional cooperation.

The first fire apparatus arrived at the scene of the fire, which was in a single family dwelling, at 1:03 p.m. on June 6, 2011. Within four minutes, the woman had been pulled from the burning house and was being treated in one of the responding ambulances.

“As we have just seen, successful cooperation between jurisdictions literally saves lives,” said Placer County Supervisor Jack Duran, whose First District includes the Dry Creek area. “I wish the rescued woman a speedy recovery. I also want to offer my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the men and women who serve in these first responder roles. We are truly blessed to have these professionals helping those in need.”

The multi-agency approach to fire protection is founded on agency-to-agency agreements, which are based on the closest resource concept. The firefighters who responded were both volunteer and paid staff, along with American Medical Response staff.

This incident demonstrates the effectiveness of the fire service system in and around the Dry Creek area. The prior planning, training and cooperation that contributed to this very successful outcome is increasingly important as economic conditions continue to erode already limited revenues available to fire service making it impossible for many individual agencies to function alone.

The following personnel were assigned to the incident:

PCFD/CALFIRE: Volunteer Firefighter Steve Spindler, Fire Captain Steve Taylor and Firefighter Cameron Meyers;
Roseville City Fire: Fire Captain Hall, Fire Apparatus Engineer Shannon , and Firefighter Gregory, Fire Captain Davis, Fire Apparatus Engineer Erwin and Firefighter Winblad;
Sac Metro: Fire Captain Craig, Fire Apparatus Engineer Redman and Firefighter Greve.
American Medical Response Units 227 and 228.

The agencies conducted post-incident briefings that have resulted in the sharing of additional information about the response that will further strengthen relationships and operability amongst the agencies for such incidents.