SAN ANTONIO — Two stolen ambulances in six months is concerning for San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood. He's considering two anti-theft devices to stop the thefts from happening.
Nothing is set in stone. In fact, SAFD is not working under any timeline to roll out the anti-theft devices for the 43 units that run daily.
"It looks like maybe we should lock something up but it's very difficult when you're in and out [of the ambulance]," Chief Hood said.
The chief wanted to address public concern over an ambulance theft on August 28. San Antonio police say that Alfred Trevino called EMS for medical assistance. A preliminary report says that as paramedics tried to treat the 33-year-old man, he jumped into the cab of the ambulance and drove away.
"The crew that was working on that run, of course they feel bad. The unit was taken and someone got hurt from it," Chief Hood said.
According to police, Trevino drove from the 3500 block of Goliad Road to the I-10/410 W ramp on the city's northwest side. Police say that he hit four vehicles as officers trailed him.
Trevino reportedly got out of the vehicle and ran on the Loop 410 West ramp, where an officer arrested him. The EMS unit rolled back into the officer's cruiser.
Chief Hood said that $16,000 in damage was done to the ambulance alone.
"The first thing that we want to say is that we're very fortunate that no one was seriously injured in this," he said. "This could have been a tragedy."
The chief added that none of his personnel faces disciplinary action. He also said that SAFD is not changing policies because of the incident but strengthening scene security and safety are on the table.
"There's that human nature involved sometimes that the person you are taking care of can seem like the nicest person in the world, and all of sudden something snaps in them," Hood said. "That's the problem."
It’s a problem that Chief Hood dealt with head-on in his days of making medical calls. He recalled one incident in which he and four others were held hostage at knife point in a kitchen. He says that emergency responders face that kind of unpredictability daily.
Paramedics, certainly, did not expect their ambulance to get stolen on February 26. SAPD says that Jordaly Hinojosa took off in the unit around 4 a.m. on the 7200 block of Timbercreek Drive. Officers used a GPS on the ambulance to track it down nearly seven miles away to the 9700 block of Alexa Place.
The 28-year-old was arrested.
Chief Hood said that SAFD is trying to figure out which anti-theft device is the best fit operationally.
An option sold by Kussmaul Electronics requires paramedics to push a button and remove the key. The second anti-theft system is sold by Tremco Emergency Products. A code must be entered on a keypad or a button is pushed to put the unit in gear.
Ambulances must remain running during medical calls. Hood said that SAFD makes 1100 responses a day.
When SAFD gets a new fleet of ambulances, the chief says that the vehicles will come outfitted with an anti-theft system.