SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — Wanting to do a kind gesture of gratitude for overburdened medical staff, San Diego Fire and rescue, San Diego police officers in the San Diego County sheriffs department staged outside of several local hospitals.
”We Really are all in this together on the front lines, we get the patients to the hospital and they take it from there,” said San Diego Fire battalion chief Ted Moran.
Fire crews selected seven hospitals for the seven battalions in the City Of San Diego in order to have a battalion chief at each one, along with a handful of fire engines, lifeguard trucks, and police patrol cars. Right at 5 p.m. Friday, each agency turned on their lights and hit their sirens as nurses and doctors came outside and waved.
The hospitals included UCSD Hillcrest, Scripps Mercy, Scripps La Jolla, Sharp Memorial, Rady Children's, Kaiser San Diego (Clairemont Mesa Blvd.) and Alvarado.
“It’s just a gesture of goodwill in solidarity,” Moran said.
Several ambulances ambulances joined the fanfare outside emergency rooms for the parade of lights. The first responders were able to make this happen on a rainy and busy day filled with rescues and flooding.
“This is something completely new for everybody. I just don’t speak for our department, I think I speak for the whole country when none of us in our careers and in our lifetimes ever have ever thought we would face anything like this, and we are doing the best that we can,” Moran said.