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 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. A host of golf carts are deployed by police, fire and EMS. Police officers and command personnel are carefully positioned in an unobtrusive manner throughout the course and its hundreds of venues. However, it is obvious that 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, with pre-staged ambulances and ambulance patient transfer locations established for the smooth and efficient delivery of care. Six locations are designated for the safe transfer of patients out of public (and camera) view.
San Diego Fire Rescue is staffing a special, compact, high-mobility cart that can deploy water and foam rapidly 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.
