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Special Event Duty

Learn how the EMS Reserve supports medical operations at large Pasadena-area special events.

Special Events

One of the four main missions of the EMS Reserve is to provide Basic Life Support (BLS) medical foot teams and other services at large public events in and around Pasadena.

Pasadena is home to the world famous Rose Bowl stadium which hosts such events as UCLA football games, major championship football events, and the annual Rose Bowl game. These large events can draw close to 100,000 people into the Rose Bowl.

The safety and health of these spectators are protected by a partnership of the Pasadena Fire Department, the Pasadena Fire Department EMS Reserve and the San Gabriel Pomona Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross. At the largest of these events, additional EMS services are even provided by other Los Angeles area fire departments and private ambulance companies.

During large Rose Bowl events, the EMS Reserve works with paid firefighter paramedics and volunteer American Red Cross members to run the Rose Bowl first aid station, staff medical foot teams, and staff EMS ambulance carts.

Medical responses during these events run the gamut from very minor to life threatening. Common medical dispatches include minor cuts and abrasions, slips and falls, sprains and fractures, heat related emergencies, burns, syncope, diabetic emergencies, major falls, strokes and cardiac arrests.

Foot Teams

Depending on the size of the event, the EMS Reserve may partner with the American Red Cross to form foot teams consisting of one EMS Reserve and one Red Cross member. This arrangement provides for two different breadths of experiences which directly benefit patients: the EMS Reserve with heavy experience in trauma and major medical incidents, and the Red Cross with heavy experience in event medicine and the ability to distribute various over-the-counter medications.

At smaller events, the EMS Reserve will work alone, staffing foot teams with only EMS Reserve members.

Regardless of event size, all foot teams are equipped with Automated External Defibrillators, oxygen and full trauma kits.

Should a patient require Advanced Life Support (ALS) care, and depending on the event, foot teams can request response from a paramedic bike team, staffed by Pasadena Fire Department firefighter paramedics.

Ambulance Carts

At Rose Bowl events, the EMS Reserve will deploy one to two ambulance golf carts, staffed by either an EMS Reserve and a Red Cross member, or two EMS Reserves. Ambulance carts are equipped with gurneys, patient extrication equipment, spinal immobilization equipment, Automated External Defibrillators, oxygen and full trauma kits.

These carts can be utilized to transport patients to the Rose Bowl first aid station, or in more serious situations, directly to a waiting Rescue Ambulance. They can also be used to reach patients too far to be reached quickly by foot teams.