SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Cosumnes Fire Department is adding more staff to help respond to emergencies. Just this week, the department launched new emergency response units called squads.
"Recently, we realized that the City of Elk Grove is growing so much, the population is increasing, the call volumes increasing, we needed to add additional units," said Cosumnes Fire Chief Felipe Rodriguez.
Cosumnes Fire Department added two new squads Tuesday to their busiest stations, which are Station 74 on Laguna Park Drive and Station 71 in Downtown Elk Grove. Rodriguez says they respond to around 4,000-4,500 calls per year.
Before the new squads were implemented, multiple calls at once meant longer wait times. Rodriguez says they'll now be able to cut response times in half with these new resources.
"We are able to respond more quickly, more effectively and provide better service for the community," he said.
Each squad is a two-person unit with firefighter/paramedics. Rodriguez says they are already making a difference. They were saving lives even on their first day.
"It was very busy. Squad 71 in downtown Elk Grove responded to seven incidents, Squad 74, which is here in Laguna, had 14 incidents including two cardiac arrests. To my understanding, both of those people survived, so that's a great thing," he said.
Rodriguez says the new units were made possible by funds from Measure E, which is a local sales tax rate increase of 1%. Measure E was passed by Elk Grove voters in 2022 to improve community services, including emergency response.
Rodriguez says the funds also paid for the department to add 15 more people.
"Having those resources able to respond quickly, having enough personnel, along with our fire engines and our ambulances, we're able to save lives," he said.
Rodriguez says Measure E has yielded $3.7 million per year for the department.
With the new resources, the department now has a total of nine fire engines, eight ambulances, two squads and one truck company. They all help with responding to emergencies and fires.
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