The Santa Barbara County Fire Department (SBCFD) will purchase ballistic vests and helmets to distribute among engines and ambulances throughout the county, according to Fire Capt. David Zaniboni.
“It’s just another piece of equipment we’re adding to our tool chest,” Zaniboni said. “In the country and the world, and even here in Santa Barbara, there’s been active shooters, and there’s been active shooter incidents where the fire department has had to go be involved.”
Typically, when the fire department responds to an active shooter incident, law enforcement must go in first to clear the area. Zaniboni said this order will remain the same even with the firefighters’ new bulletproof equipment, but cited the 2014 Isla Vista massacre as an incident in which “chaos” disrupted the order.
“Our firefighters were in there with no law enforcement at all,” he said. “We had no idea where the active shooter was. Law enforcement was trying to locate him and apprehend him. It was chaos.”
And chaos “usually runs hand-in-hand” with active shooter situations, Zaniboni said.
In those incidents, firefighters will now have bulletproof protection. SBCFD piggybacked on a purchase by the Los Angeles Fire Department of ballistic vests and helmets, and 100 of each will go to Santa Barbara County.
Fire engines and ambulances will receive enough pieces of equipment to cover the number of firefighters assigned to each vehicle. If there are two firefighters assigned to an ambulance, for example, the ambulance will carry two vests and two helmets. Firefighters will only wear the equipment when an active shooter is involved.
“There’s still times if there was something big going on, we may find ourselves in a position where we just want to be protected,” Zaniboni said. “It’s just another tool to protect ourselves.”
He did not yet know when the county would receive the equipment or how much the equipment cost, but he said the county saved money by purchasing through the LA Fire Department.
“I hope we never have to use them,” Zaniboni said. “But they’re there just in case.”
This article appears in Apr 28 – May 5, 2016.