Safety and Security in the North State

Thousands of dedicated law enforcement, fire and first responder personnel throughout the North State work hard every day to respond to emergencies and do their best to protect and serve the community. We are fortunate to have two unique professional organizations in the North State that provide much-needed support to these public safety agencies, SHIELD Regional Training Consortium and Mountain Medic.

SHIELD Regional Training Center provides public safety training for first responders

Until recently, much of the technical training North State firefighters needed was unavailable and departments were forced to send employees out of the area at such high costs that it limited the number of employees that could be sent for the trainings, if they could afford to send any at all.

That all changed in 2019, when, after many years of planning and seeking resources and grants, SHIELD Regional Training Center opened its doors at 4300 Caterpillar Road, Redding. Today, SHIELD consists of 19 public safety member agencies from Shasta, Tehama and Trinity counties. Its facility boasts nearly 48,500 square feet which includes seven classroom spaces, a mat room, a force option simulator room, five conference rooms, 11 offices and two additional breakout rooms with room to expand. Its members also have access to classrooms and training grounds at the new Shasta College Regional Public Safety Training Facility.

SHIELD’s multi-jurisdictional public safety training program covers a wide range of topics and provides public safety personnel with unique and invaluable training. In 2023 alone SHIELD provided over 45 training courses, including:

• Advanced Officer Training/ Perishable Skills
• Basic Crisis Negotiation
• Domestic Violence for Dispatchers
• Domestic Violence for First Responders
• Electrical Related Fire Investigation
• Emotional Intelligence for Public Safety
• Forensic Entomology
• HAZMAT First Responder Operational
• Forensic Entomology
• Multi-Agency Active Shooter Response Training
• Responder Strong – Mental Health Train the Trainer
• Advanced Firefighter Training
• Sexual Assault for Dispatchers
• Sexual Assault for First Responders
• Suicide Intervention Training
• Vehicle Extrication
• Veterans & Law Enforcement Interaction

SHIELD is a 501c3 nonprofit organization and is funded through grants, leases and their annual fundraiser, scheduled May 4 this year. “Our mission is to provide collaborative trainings so we can assist in building a stronger and safer community,” says executive director Eva Jimenez. “We also want to offer our public safety agencies local training opportunities, so they can save dollars in travel costs.” Visit shield.training for more information.

Mountain Medic provides vital support to North State medical first responders

Mount Shasta resident, licensed paramedic and RN Chad McCall had a vision, born from his work in disaster zones all over the world, to meet niche needs he observed in the field of disaster response in the North State. In 2014, Chad founded Mountain Medics, a specialized ambulance company in Mount Shasta to provide medical support for firefighters battling wildfires in the North State. Today, just 10 years after it began, Mountain Medics supports not only firefighters, but a variety of rescue workers throughout the North State and across the country. In 2023, for example Mountain Medics provided on-site medical support for workers repairing the power and gas utilities in Santa Cruz after a storm caused severe damage.

The McCall family teams up to support Mountain Medic and their community.
Photo credit: Joann Goble.

Starting with just a handful of employees and services, Mountain Medic now has in addition to ambulances, tracked snow vehicles and mobile urgent care clinics (called med units). Over 60 employees, including emergency medical technicians (EMTs), paramedics and nurses, work for Mountain Medics seasonally. By bringing their medical expertise to disaster zones, Mountain Medics allows local first-responders to remain more available for their usual emergency services.

If the recent deadly fire seasons have taught us anything, it’s that we are stronger when we work together to meet these challenges and save lives. Our local public safety agencies, and community members like Chad McCall, knew this even before the events of recent years and have been planning, strategizing, training and working hard to be prepared for whatever the future brings.

“I think being involved within your community creates a sense of being part of it and you have some ownership,” Chad says. We can all make a difference by being prepared, reaching out to our neighbors and getting involved in our community.