City of Ventura Fire Engineer stricken while responding to call, SPFD helps
March 03, 2017
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
A Ventura City Fire Engineer remains hospitalized and in an induced coma after suffering a heart attack Sunday while responding to a medical emergency call.
The Santa Paula Fire Department helped cover the City of Ventura during the emergency.
The unidentified fire engineer, 49, “Was on his way to a call from Station 6,” when he was stricken, said Santa Paula Assistant Fire Chief Vern Alstot.
When the firefighter experienced the medical emergency about 9:30 a.m., his co-workers were able to pull their engine over and treat him on scene before transporting him to the hospital.
“His partner grabbed the steering wheel and hit the emergency brake to stop the engine,” avoiding an accident said Alstot.
“If the paramedics had not been there,” the fire engineer likely would not have survived.
Santa Paula Fire and Ventura County Fire helped cover stations throughout the City of Ventura so firefighters could gather at the hospital where the engineer was taken.
As of Wednesday Alstot said the fire engineer is doing “As good as he possibly could, it appears he’s going to make a very good recovery,” although still not fully awake from a medically induced coma.
Alstot noted that when a fellow firefighter is injured or stricken “It’s like an incident involving police…firefighters also all gather around and do as much as we can do to help.”
On Sunday, after the VFD Engineer was stricken another engine and ambulance was redirected to the original medical emergency.
