Firefighters in San Diego who have had too much to drink now have a safety net: They can call a fellow firefighter to get a ride home. The service, dubbed Safety Net Service, is an all-volunteer effort created and run by Chad Allison, a firefighter with the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFRD).
Spurred on by two incidents of SDFRD firefighters driving drunk–one of whom died behind the wheel–Allison single-handedly started the program in March 2009. “I decided to send something out to the department saying if you’ve had too much to drink and you need a ride anywhere in the county, give me a call,” Allison explains.
Other firefighters volunteered as drivers immediately, which eases the burden on Allison. “Volunteers give me a phone number where they can be reached 24/7, and tell me what region of the county they’re in,” Allison says. “That allows me to cover the county a lot better.” When Allison gets a call from someone who needs a ride–usually late at night–he says, “If I can’t drive myself, I’ll start calling drivers in that region. I usually have to call three to 10 people before I get a driver. I give them the first name, phone number and location of the person they’re picking up, and remind them to keep that person’s identity to themselves.”
Getting Safety Net Off the Ground
To implement the volunteer program, Allison simply spread the word through the department by distributing a flyer. “I followed up that first flyer by dropping off a flyer and 12 business cards at every SDFRD station, and asked people to plug my number into their cell phone, even if they won’t need it themselves,” Allison explains. “And I send out an e-mail about once a quarter, reminding people that they can call and it’s no problem for someone to come and get them.”
Since then, Allison has acquired about 65 volunteer drivers–including drivers from other fire departments in the county, the private ambulance service that partners with the SDFRD and department lifeguards.
“I feel like the more departments and organizations get involved, the less likely that the driver will know the person they’re picking up,” Allison says. He also promotes the fact that the service is anonymous and based on rank–so a battalion chief won’t get a ride from a firefighter or vice versa.
“I might average about one call a month, and not everyone ends up needing a ride,” Allison says. “A lot of times someone will call a cab instead, or get a ride from someone they’re with.” Allison hopes that the call volume is low because the Safety Net has put the idea in firefighters’ heads: Don’t drink and drive. “As long as they’re not driving drunk–that’s the important thing,” he says.
Chris Brown is an SDFRD firefighter-paramedic who has given Safety Net rides to others, and who called for a ride himself one St. Patrick’s Day. “I had put the number in my phone, and I had just called Chad and was talking to him when a cab pulled up right in front of me,” Brown says. “I ended up taking the cab, but I wouldn’t have a problem at all with calling again. We’re a tight-knit family here and we look out for each other.”
Do It Yourself
If you’re interested in starting a volunteer program for your department or your region, Allison says, “You can go to the chief or go through the union, or you can do what I did and just put it out there.” His advice:
- Start with a base of volunteer drivers who work a variety of shifts, so you’ll always have someone available, then grow your pool.
- Have a single person as the point of contact, and promote their cell phone number. “My voicemail message has alternate numbers to call if I can’t answer for some reason,” Allison says.
- Keep scheduling simple: “Others have suggested that we create a calendar for drivers,” Allison recalls. “It’s a great idea, but with the amount of phone calls I get, it’s not worth the organizational time.”
Final Thoughts
Allison’s Safety Net Service model is pretty basic, but that suits the need. “It works this way–it’s simple, there’s no funding, and it’s manageable,” Allison says. “I would be more than willing to walk someone through how I did this.” You can contact him at chadsallison@yahoo.com.
Serious Consequences
Every state has its own laws, limits and legal consequences for DUIs–and all are pretty tough. Most firefighters are probably unaware of how serious the personal and professional consequences are for getting a single DUI.
“If an engineer gets a DUI, the state of California will take away their commercial driver’s license for a year. And if they get a second DUI, it’s taken away permanently,” Allison says. “And this year, the state board changed the rules so that getting two DUIs takes away your EMS certification, which we all need to be firefighters in California. That’s serious–that means giving up your career and your way of life.”
Like other fire departments across the country, the SDFRD is seeing more DUIs among firefighters and wants to stop that trend. Assistant Fire Chief Brian Fennessy says, “We’ve seen an uptick in alcohol-related occurrences and some substance abuse occurrences. It’s something we’re seeing increasing–larger organizations like ours are really seeing it, because of the sheer number of employees we have.”
Early this year, Fennessy was put in charge of a new task force called the Substance Abuse Consequences Training Working Group, created to get the word out on the serious consequences of even one DUI. The group wanted a “sticky” message–something powerful enough to stick in firefighters’ minds–so they are developing short videos featuring actual SDFRD firefighters who share personal stories of what they’ve lost because of DUIs. The videos will be used for departmental training, but Fennessy says he would be happy to share them with any fire departments that would like to use them. “And we’d be happy to get feedback and input from other departments that are doing similar things,” he adds. Contact him at BFennessy@sandiego.gov.
