On last Friday’s (March 1) Up Close Show, host Gary Daigneault sat down to discuss emergency services with Craig Bell, the Operations Chief of Morongo Basin Ambulance.
Founded by seven volunteers in 1948, Morongo Basin Ambulance is a non-tax-based, non-profit corporation that provides emergency ambulance services to the Hi Desert. While based in Joshua Tree, their service area has grown to cover multiple communities spread throughout the Morongo Basin.
Craig Bell: “We cover all the way out to Amboy, Johnson Valley, down into the Morongo Valley, Twentynine Palms, Joshua Tree, and all the surrounding areas. The only place that we don’t cover in the Morongo Basin as a whole would be in the inner-city limits of Yucca Valley.”
Despite not covering the Town of Yucca Valley directly, close work with the San Bernardino County Fire Department ensures that the whole of the hi-desert receives quality emergency care.
Craig Bell: “When emergencies happen, they’re unexpected, so the County or us may not always have all of our resources available, or enough resources to handle a major incident. We do have mutual aid agreements in place to where if we are overwhelmed, they’ll step in and help us, and if they are overwhelmed, then we’ll step in and help them.”
Morongo Basin Ambulance has a coverage area of 2,700 square miles, which they serve 24/7 with the use of four Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulances. You can listen to Gary’s full conversation with Craig Bell by downloading the Up Close Show as a podcast.
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