# AMR Palm Springs



## Francisco (Sep 6, 2016)

Anyone that has worked here that can answer a couple of questions for me for example : What's the work schedule like ? Pay ? Scope of Practice? And what areas do they cover ? Is it a good place to work and gain EMS experience?


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## VentMonkey (Sep 6, 2016)

Don't mean to thread hijack here, op, but have you considered Hall as an option? The only reason I ask is because you inquired about Riggs in another thread. These two companies are on opposite ends of the state, with Hall pretty much being in the middle, and as I have mentioned in another thread as well, we're almost always recruiting.

There are a few others on here from Hall that can help you out as well. I'm no recruiter, and don't want to deter you, nor do I know what best suits you.

As far as AMR, I can tell you that each division varies vastly (I worked for AMR for 5 years as a basic) and that while I may not have any first hand experience with their PS division, I did do my internship in the south end of Rivco several years ago and had a blast, but I will let the Rivco AMR folks on here elaborate. I do hear the PS division is a pretty solid one, BTW.

Just remember, Hall is always an option as well. I almost got hired/ applied for another company in Fresno, but fate drove me to a way more suitable employer for me in Hall, good luck.


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## CALEMT (Sep 6, 2016)

VentMonkey said:


> I do hear the PS division is a pretty solid one, BTW.



It is along with Hemet.

For the OP if you're full time you work 4 days one week and 3 days the next week. week 1: xxxOOOO week 2: xxxxOOO.

Starting for a EMT is around $10.50, but thats pretty dated it very well could have changed.

Scope of practice for EMT's I'm assuming. You can acquire that info though rivcoems.org its not like Kern where you can drop supraglottic airways, but REMS isn't all that bad, definitely better than surrounding counties i.e. LA.

We cover from the Whitewater all the way to the Arizona border at Blythe. All the way up to the SBCo line and all the way down to the Imperial Co. line. Riverside Co. as a whole is one of the largest counties in the world (geographically) and is larger than the state or Rhode Island. The cities Palm Springs covers are: Palm Springs, Desert Hot Springs, La Quinta, Coachella, Blythe, and unincorporated cities of Thermal, Oasis, Mecca, North Shore, Bermuda Dunes, Chiraco Summit, Desert Center, Lake Tamarisk, Thousand Palms, and Whitewater.

Yes I would say its a good place to work and gain experience.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 6, 2016)

Does Riverside have any BLS fire companies left?

When I did my internship Perris was still BLS.

And, yeah, Hemet has always been a good division, IMO. I contemplated transferring there when I worked as a a paramedic in a neighboring San Bernardino division, but guess it wasn't in the cards...


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## Francisco (Sep 6, 2016)

CALEMT said:


> It is along with Hemet.
> 
> For the OP if you're full time you work 4 days one week and 3 days the next week. week 1: xxxOOOO week 2: xxxxOOO.
> 
> ...


Thank you for the information it helps a lot.


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## CALEMT (Sep 6, 2016)

VentMonkey said:


> Does Riverside have any BLS fire companies left?



None really come to mind. Most if not all are ALS now. I can't speak for certainty for the west end. But Riverside County Fire/ CAL FIRE are ALS, as is Palm Springs Fire and Cathedral City Fire. Blythe Volunteer Fire is staffed BLS still.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 6, 2016)

CALEMT said:


> None really come to mind. Most if not all are ALS now. I can't speak for certainty for the west end. But Riverside County Fire/ CAL FIRE are ALS, as is Palm Springs Fire and Cathedral City Fire. Blythe Volunteer Fire is staffed BLS still.


Good to know. A good friend of mine just got hired on with Cal Fire as a FFPM in Riverside, and awaits his assignment.


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## CALEMT (Sep 6, 2016)

VentMonkey said:


> Good to know. A good friend of mine just got hired on with Cal Fire as a FFPM in Riverside, and awaits his assignment.



If he gets the east end. Stations 80, 88, 86, 71, 33, 55, 67, 69 will sometimes staff the engine BLS due to the presence of the medic units at those stations. Indio and the "Cove communities" i.e. Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, and Indian Wells contract with county fire for ambulance services. I've noticed when I run with Indio that they'll regularly staff engines with FFPM's. Ive heard of 71 rolling BLS regularly. Can't say for sure on the others as we don't run all that often with them. Trucks are staffed BLS. You'll have a FFPM on the truck, but no toys.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 6, 2016)

He's actually hoping for Sun City, or Menifee. 

To each their own.


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## CALEMT (Sep 6, 2016)

The norm seems to be sending people to the desert. If that happens he absolutely does not want to go to 37 (DHS) they run non stop and its in the ghetto. Palm Desert, La Quinta, and Indio (Indio can be ghetto depending on where you're at) are nice. Decent call volume in a nice area.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 6, 2016)

Thanks for the heads up! I think he's just stoked to finally have landed a FFPM gig (I knew and trained him as a new paramedic in Kern County).

Side note, another guy we have that works up here was an LT in Indio some time ago. Small world, I guess.


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## DesertMedic66 (Sep 7, 2016)

VentMonkey said:


> Does Riverside have any BLS fire companies left?
> 
> When I did my internship Perris was still BLS.
> 
> And, yeah, Hemet has always been a good division, IMO. I contemplated transferring there when I worked as a a paramedic in a neighboring San Bernardino division, but guess it wasn't in the cards...


Station 21 in Calimesa is BLS only. Station 67 engine in palm desert is BLS. 

Perris is ALS along with Hemet.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 7, 2016)

DesertMedic66 said:


> Station 21 in Calimesa is BLS only. Station 67 engine in palm desert is BLS.
> 
> Perris is ALS along with Hemet.


How long ago did Hemet finally go ALS?


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## DesertMedic66 (Sep 7, 2016)

VentMonkey said:


> How long ago did Hemet finally go ALS?


Well over a year ago


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## VentMonkey (Sep 7, 2016)

Good for them. Is there still talk about them being absorbed by the county/ Cal Fire?


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## CALEMT (Sep 7, 2016)

VentMonkey said:


> Good for them. Is there still talk about them being absorbed by the county/ Cal Fire?



Just rumors. Hemet and Cathedral City I know have been on the radar for county. They took over Norco a year or two ago.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 7, 2016)

Thanks. Again, I didn't mean to hijack the ops thread, but was always a fan of the AMR Rivco divisions.

I actually contemplated moving back there a few years ago, but just really enjoy where I am now, and can't seem to leave considering how well they've treated me here at Hall.


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## BASICallyEMT (Sep 9, 2016)

VentMonkey said:


> Does Riverside have any BLS fire companies left?
> 
> When I did my internship Perris was still BLS.
> 
> And, yeah, Hemet has always been a good division, IMO.




Cal Fire has a few BLS crews we run with near Riverside. I think mainly when their ALS squad is already on a run.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 9, 2016)

What is the general working relationship like between the Riverside AMR folks and Cal Fire?


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## DesertMedic66 (Sep 9, 2016)

VentMonkey said:


> What is the general working relationship like between the Riverside AMR folks and Cal Fire?


Generally pretty good. There are some stations that do not get along well with.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 9, 2016)

Fair enough. When I interned in Rivco, I found the Sun City guys a tad salty. Granted, their call volume had to been two to three times what it was I was seeing during internship at the station we were housed at.


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## CALEMT (Sep 9, 2016)

VentMonkey said:


> Fair enough. When I interned in Rivco, I found the Sun City guys a tad salty. Granted, their call volume had to been two to three times what it was I was seeing during internship at the station we were housed at.



I've heard some pretty not so good things about Mo Val crews. Like Desertmedic said we get along pretty well with everyone except this one crew.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 9, 2016)

Cool deal, that always makes for a better shift.

Does AMR still have 24 hour cars in-house with any of the fire stations in Riverside?


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## BASICallyEMT (Sep 10, 2016)

VentMonkey said:


> Cool deal, that always makes for a better shift.
> 
> Does AMR still have 24 hour cars in-house with any of the fire stations in Riverside?



Not to my knowledge. I believe there were too many issues having crews in-house with fire. We only have a couple 24hr shifts left and they are in the south end.


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## CALEMT (Sep 10, 2016)

I couldn't imagine being in house with Riverside Fire. Theres a couple crews out here that I think wouldn't be to bad, but still probably not the best of ideas.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 10, 2016)

I did my internship in Murrieta. They were a great bunch of guys. Very inviting, and never had I seen such a laid back, yet, productive approach to training their probationary firefighters; no hazing whatsoever.

I had a blast while there, and most, if not all of their FFPM's were all squared away as well.


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## DesertMedic66 (Sep 10, 2016)

VentMonkey said:


> I did my internship in Murrieta. They were a great bunch of guys. Very inviting, and never had I seen such a laid back, yet, productive approach to training their probationary firefighters; no hazing whatsoever.
> 
> I had a blast while there, and most, if not all of their FFPM's were all squared away as well.


There has been major issues with murrieta vs AMR for years. Murrieta wants (or at least wanted) AMR to be kicked out of riverside county and were raising hell about it with the city and county.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 10, 2016)

DesertMedic66 said:


> There has been major issues with murrieta vs AMR for years. Murrieta wants (or at least wanted) AMR to be kicked out of riverside county and were raising hell about it with the city and county.


That's too bad. I don't know what politics are, or even were like back then, but in house, and amongst the crews at that time, everyone jived real well together. They never stepped on my toes, and they allowed me many opportunities to grab contacts, and do my work ups.


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## BASICallyEMT (Sep 10, 2016)

CALEMT said:


> I couldn't imagine being in house with Riverside Fire. Theres a couple crews out here that I think wouldn't be to bad, but still probably not the best of ideas.


Ha.. Well they were talking about possibly going in-house with a couple Cal Fire crews up here near Roubidoux area but who knows


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## VentMonkey (Sep 10, 2016)

Glen Avon housed an AMR 24 when I did my internship, so did MoVal. 

My, how things have changed, lol.


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## CALEMT (Sep 10, 2016)

BASICallyEMT said:


> Ha.. Well they were talking about possibly going in-house with a couple Cal Fire crews up here near Roubidoux area but who knows



Cal Fire ain't as bad. I've heard other when it comes to Riverside Fire.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 10, 2016)

How's Corona Fire treating you guys these days?


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## BASICallyEMT (Sep 10, 2016)

CALEMT said:


> Cal Fire ain't as bad. I've heard other when it comes to Riverside Fire.


Yeah.. Theres a few Riverside guys that are a pain but the majority get along with us fine.


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## BASICallyEMT (Sep 10, 2016)

VentMonkey said:


> How's Corona Fire treating you guys these days?



I personally like Corona. I only had 1-2 problems with those guy that i recall. They are very professional. I try to avoid the Corona Crawl as much as possible though.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 10, 2016)

Interesting stuff guys. Maybe we should rename this thread the "AMR Riverside" thread, or perhaps even the "AMR I.E."

I would be curious to know if there are any AMR San Berdoo folks on here as well. I worked as a paramedic in Redlands for just under a year before relocating. 

Interesting to see how things have changed, or haven't?...


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## CALEMT (Sep 11, 2016)

VentMonkey said:


> Interesting stuff guys. Maybe we should rename this thread the "AMR Riverside" thread, or perhaps even the "AMR I.E."
> 
> I would be curious to know if there are any AMR San Berdoo folks on here as well. I worked as a paramedic in Redlands for just under a year before relocating.
> 
> Interesting to see how things have changed, or haven't?...



Well I can tell you that SBCoFD took over for SBFD. Other than that, I don't really know.


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## VentMonkey (Sep 11, 2016)

CALEMT said:


> Well I can tell you that SBCoFD took over for SBFD. Other than that, I don't really know.


I saw that. Ironically enough that is where I got my feet wet as a wide-eyed, green paramedic.

San Bernardino City was a lot of stress, but also a lot of fun. We averaged 10-15 calls on a 24 hour car, the busiest being 22 transports in 24 hours. Definitely not healthy, nor smart for the longevity of one's career.

In retrospect I learned a lot of what to, and what not to, do as a brand new paramedic. I got fairly confident with trauma, particularly shootings and stabbings. "The Ol Knife and Gun Club", or "Stab and Fight Friday Nights" as one of my supes called it is ever so prevalent in, and around that city.


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## CALEMT (Dec 14, 2016)

CALEMT said:


> Trucks are staffed BLS. You'll have a FFPM on the truck, but no toys.



I figure I'd give a update on this info. Can't speak for certain on the west end but here in the Coachella Valley Truck 33 and Truck 86 are now staffed ALS.


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## Amberlamps916 (Dec 14, 2016)

VentMonkey said:


> Interesting stuff guys. Maybe we should rename this thread the "AMR Riverside" thread, or perhaps even the "AMR I.E."
> 
> I would be curious to know if there are any AMR San Berdoo folks on here as well. I worked as a paramedic in Redlands for just under a year before relocating.
> 
> Interesting to see how things have changed, or haven't?...




I worked in San Bernardino County with AMR for a few years before transferring to Santa Barbara. Going from shootings and stabbings in the extreme ghetto to running on people living in multi-million dollar mansions by the beach has been quite interesting.

I also did my internship with AMR- Riverside, in Moreno Valley. All the fire guys were cool and I don't remember having any issues with them.

Riverside County has some awesome AMR divisions. It's amazing how well they are ran compared to the nightmare that is Redlands, Rancho, and Victorville.


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