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JEMS.com Editor's Note: Watch for a special article on the planning, logistics and operational aspects of covering the U.S. Open Golf Tournament and other large venues in a future issue ofJEMS.
The City of San Diego's police, fire and EMS resources are at the ready for peak performance during the U.S. Open this week at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego. Elsevier Public Safety Editorial Director, A.J. Heightman, MPA, EMT-P, received a behind-the-scenes tour of the U.S. Open and shares a few shots most golf enthusiast will never see.
Crowds of more than 40,000 are expected to attend the main tournament that continues through Sunday. Crews are briefed at the beginning of each tour of duty, and a state-of-the-art command-and-control system is in place to dispatch and monitor on scene resources. EMS, police and fire have deployed a host of golf carts. Police officers and command personnel are carefully positioned in an unobtrusive manner throughout the course and its hundreds of venues. However, unobtrusive as it may be, it's obvious there is a heavy police presence at one of the world's most prestigious sporting events.
EMS resources are deployed on foot, as well as via bikes and specially designed ALS-response carts. In addition, pre-staged ambulances and ambulance patient transfer locations have been established for the smooth and efficient delivery of care. Six locations are designated for the safe transfer of patients out of view of the public (and cameras).
The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department is staffing a special, compact, high-mobility cart that can rapidly deploy water and foam in areas not easily accessible to standard fire apparatus. The San Diego Police Department's new Communications Command and Control unit is in operation at the event as is a City/County MCI trailer.
