San Antonio Fire Department History @ sanantonioFIRE.org

sanantonioFIRE.org Soiuth Texas Fire / Rescue / EMS


San Antonio Emergency Medical Services began forming in October of 1972. It is not a complicated beginning. The Station was 32 and the call was on the hotline. The Fire Chief, Bart Mulhern, made the phone call to then Capt. James D. Miller and the conversation went something like this:

“J.D. I want you to sit down with a bunch of doctors.” Captain Miller was a little set back by the Fire Chief’s request and asked him. “Chief, what’s this all about?” Chief Mulhern not very informed about the whole matter himself, replied, “ I don’t know. Something about ambulances. Just sit down with these doctors and tell me what they want.”

From that phone call from Fire Chief Bart Mulhern to Capt. James D. Miller, the seed of San Antonio Emergency Medical Services was planted and began to grow.

Capt. Miller, fondly known as the “Father of E.M.S.”, attended that first meeting with the doctors. The meeting, a Task Force headed by the Bexar County Medical Society, was to try and put together a plan to enhance patient care prior to arrival at the hospital.

This group of doctors was headed by Charles Rockwood M.D. and Jack Williamson M.D.The Task Force had seen studies from the U.S. Dept. of Transportation that stated 60% of patients that were transported by ambulance to an emergency room and died, died as a result of improper transportation by ambulances. The Task Force brought out the crying need for better patient care prior to arrival to an emergency room. Up to this point the only service available was a “high speed, horizontal, taxi ride.” There was much competition between ambulance services also. It was a race to the scene for the business. This situation was just not acceptable. The solution that the Task Force was prepared to create, was an Emergency Medical Service System. With this idea in place, the Task Force went to the city of San Antonio to convince the city council of the need for an EMS System.

The year was 1972 when the Task Force went to the City. The idea was welcomed and passed by city council. The next step was,”Who was going to man the system?” The Police Dept. was turned down due to their already high volume of calls. The Health Dept was also considered, but rejected. Then The Fire Dept. was researched and found to be the perfect vehicle for the system. The Fire Dept. had the manpower which was already rescue and first-aid oriented . SAFD was the logical choice to turn the Task Force dream into reality. Fire Chief Bart Mulhern was notified by the City that the Fire Dept. would be responsible for implementing the EMS system.

Once again the call came to Capt. James Miller in early 1973. This time The Fire Chief had been authorized a budget of 1.4 million dollars to put this system together. Capt. Miller would be the man to lead the charge into a brand new direction for the Fire Dept. This direction at the time was filled with many unknown factors and decisions that would ultimately have to be dealt with. The target date for implementation of the new Emergency Medical Service System was going to be the first of March, 1974.

By 1973 Capt. James Miller, now promoted to District Chief, began the actual planning of the EMS System. This planning encompassed determining how many men were needed, how many ambulances would be required to start this project,

what type of dispatch system needed to be setup, and what medical supplies would be needed to be warehoused. You can guess this was no simple task, and the research that was necessary to get a project like this off the ground was already enormous and seemed to be growing everyday. The opening day for the project was about one year away and the days were counting down.

As the project of creating an EMS system grew ,District Chief James Miller could no longer perform his duties as District Chief and EMS Coordinator. Chief Miller requested that his assignment be completely focused on the EMS project. The Fire Chief agreed and assigned Chief Miller an office at Fire Station

No. 1. This was to be the new EMS Division Headquarters till the project was completed. The EMS office staff was Dist. Chief James Miller and His Executive secretary Helen Crapps. With this nucleus in place, the ball began to roll.

Ten ambulances were purchased from The Modulance Corp. out of Dallas, Texas at a cost of $12,000.00 each. Seven would be on the street and three would be spares.

The Task Force and the Dept. of Transportation had already determined what each ambulance would carry in regards to Medical supplies and equipment. It was up to the Fire Dept. EMS Division to determine what manpower would be needed to put seven ambulances in service.

The call went out and 6 Lt.., 48 Engineers and one Dist. Chief became the First group of paramedics that would be trained. The total manpower was 55 men. These men were the pioneers of an EMS System that would be second to none in the State of Texas. Here is a listing of those courageous First Fifty Five:

District Chief: James D. Miller

Executive Officer: Lt. Edward “Moose” Sebera Jr.

Officers:

Lt. Grady N. Crapps

Lt. Roy R. Gonzales

Lt. Leon T. Patterson

Lt. Jacob E. Spear

Lt. John D. Young

Engineers:
Robert Adame David A. Arredondo Clifford Banks Alvino S. Bishop Michael C. Burkett Hector J. Cardenas Julio Castillo, Jr. Joe Scott Cope Harvey G. Cox, Jr. Eddie C. Crow Alan Cunningham Arthur Estrada Vincent Flores Harry Herrera Jerry Herrera John Huber Terry G. Jones Timothy S. Kloss Carlos O. Lavastida Ernest N. Lavin, Jr. Alfred E. Lee Edward C. Lopez	Richard P. Ollivarri Emilio J. Perez Frank Rodriguez Thomas J. Roe Jesus Sanchez, Jr. William C. Sano James L. Shipman, Jr David Soto, Jr. James A. Spear David B. St. Clair Michael L. Stringfellow George B. Suther Ernest L. Thompson Joe Lee Valadez Jose R. Venegas Richard A. Wagner Charles C. Walker Gerald K. Walters Frank D. Williams Victor Zengerle Wayne A. Ziese
Civilian Students in Class:
Ron A. Mallum Frank O. Maspero, Jr. Bruce A. Michalczak Hector X. Moreno Karl B. Nentwich	Fred Hanna Donald Johnson Charles E. Garoni James M. Patterson

With the manpower in place, the class was ready to be trained. All the personnel selected, including Chief Miller, would be trained as paramedics. On the 3rd of January 1974 The first class of paramedics started its state certified classes. The coordination of the classes was headed by Jim Patterson and Charles “Punky” Garoni. Mr. Garoni, a student in that first class of paramedics, is currently the director of Paramedic Training for the Health Science Center.

The training according to Chief Miller was “Hot and Heavy.” Graduation Day for the first fifty-five was the 28th of February 1974 at 7 PM in the auditorium of the Health Science Center. Just prior to graduation , Chief Miller gathered the men that would be the EMS Division and gave them this speech, “Boys, I don’t know what is going to happen to us. We’ve never done this before. But stay with me and we’ll get through this together.” And all together they graduated as certified paramedics, all 55.

After all the hands were shaken and congratulations given , the boys had 4 hours before The EMS System would be placed into service at 1201 AM March 1, 1974. The paramedics were ready, The ambulances were gassed and stocked and the EMS System went on line just as Chief Miller was instructed...March 1, 1974 at 1201AM.

The First Run recorded was made by 808 . From that first call EMS was up and running and there was no looking back. The System was a huge success. These paramedics were the life saving angels of the City of San Antonio. That first year saw EMS make 24,336 calls.

As EMS grew, so did the leadership. Here is a list of EMS Division Directors through the years:

EMS Directors:

Chief James D. Miller ...........1974

Asst. Chief Reyes Lopez.......1975

Chief Roger Penrod...............1976

Chief James D. Miller............1978

Chief Charles Anaya.............1979

Chief Tim Connally................1983

Deputy Chief Curtis Franz......1984

Chief Roland Fuentes............1985

Chief Neil Nye.......................1987

Asst. Chief Charles Anaya.....1992

Asst. Chief Mario Guerra.......1995

Medical Directors:

Charles Rockwood Jr. M.D....1974-1989

Donald Gordon M.D.............1989-present

Assistant Medical Directors:

Curtis Clogston, MD......1981-1986

Donald Gordon, MD......1986-1989

R. Donovan Butter, M.D.1990-1992

Ann J. Burgardt, M.D........1992- present

MS Spiritual Advisor:

Father Kenneth Mitchell

The year is 1999 and the EMS System celebrated it’s 25 anniversary. This is how we have grown from that first year in service:
EMS System	1974	1999
Personnel	55	328
Budget	1.4Million	31Million
EMS runs	24,336	86,635 (1998 total)
Ambulance cost	$12,000	$90,000
Units in service	7	23 (with 8 peak hour units available)
Paramedic Classes	3	26

As you can see, EMS has come a long way from those “First Fifty Five. Some of the innovative improvements to the system are:

Plectron Radios

Mobile Digital Terminals in ambulances

Pulseoximeters

Smaller and more efficient EKG units

Cellular telephones

A Life Link System ( a type of video telephone to Medical Control)

A Continuing Education Program

A patient chart evaluation program

Paramedic Bicycle Patrol Unit

And the list keeps growing..........................

1999 shows an EMS System that is state of the art and getting better. The main reason this EMS system is so successful is the paramedics that man the ambulances 24 hours a day and 3 65 days a year. There is no challenge too big or terrible that these men cannot handle. It is their dedication to the health and well being of the citizens of San Antonio that makes the paramedics of the San Antonio Fire Dept. so outstanding.

Just as the list of improvements to the system keeps improving, so does the list of dedicated paramedics. Here is a list of the 26th class of paramedics to graduate and take their position in this proud EMS System:

26th CLASS OF PARAMEDICS:
Thomas Caldwell Raul Chapa Reagan L. Connally Anthony De La O Todd K. Dutson Andres Fields Raymond J. Freitas Rolando Garza Javier Hernandez Isidro Medina Jr. Noel D. Morones Caryl L. Paulson	Billy Poindexter Richard R. Ricks Roger Riojas Ernest Salazar Bruce Schwall Dean Solis Bertha A. Soto Leon B. Tamayo Rueben A. Vidal Darryl W. Waltisperger Gregory B. Welch
With this class of paramedics, the Story of EMS in San Antonio continues on..............

P.S. Here is a list of Nicknames that may bring a smile to a few paramedics:
ACTION JACKSON THE ANIMAL THE BEACH BOYS BIG AL BIG RED BIMBO BO BOO-BOO BUDDY BUZZ CARNEY THE CHARLILLIAN CHINO COOKIE COOL HAND LUKE DANCING BEAR DANDY DON DOC SAVAGE THE GOON BROTHERS IRON MIKE	HOBBY HOOTER HOLLYWOOD JACK LITTLE RALPH LITTLE RAT MOE MOOSE NORM POPCORN PROPHET PURPLE HAZE POTSEY SANDY SKIPPER SONNY STRINGY SQUIRREL TEEN ANGEL THE WORM

CONGRATULATIONS ON A JOB WELL DONE!