Most emergency personnel working on the rodeo grounds are pulling overtime shifts rather than refocusing them away from the community's day-to-day needs.
The rodeo requires at least two paramedic-staffed ambulances on the grounds throughout each performance in case of injury, but those trucks are being staffed without taking any of county's seven on-duty ambulances out of service, San Juan Regional Medical Center Emergency Medicine Director Ed Horvat said.
In addition to the extra ambulances, medics also are staffing a first aid station providing care to rodeo spectators.
"We didn't want to short-shift the rest of the public just because we're standing by the rodeo," Horvat said. "We've kept everything else in place."
Dozens of police are being used to control the crowds on the fair grounds and to ensure traffic keeps moving, said Sheriff's Lt. Shane Utley.
"We were able to put the schedule out several months ahead of time so that departments were able to schedule that and not interfere with their coverage on the streets," Utley said. "We pay overtime rather than sacrificing any position on the street."
Farmington Police Chief Jim Runnels said on-duty officers are being utilized to assist with post-performance
"We're trying to utilize on-duty personnel as much as possible, but that's only needing 30 to 45 minutes, it's not really detracting a whole lot from our patrol presence," Runnels said.
But there also has been a surplus of emergency personnel offering their time as volunteers, Utley said.
One draw for volunteers is assisting with the on-scene incident command radio system, offering young staff valuable experience with using the communications system before a true emergency strikes, Farmington Fire Chief Troy Brown said.
"There have been several different departments involved out there," Brown said. "Farmington is obviously very supportive of this rodeo and the whole celebration out there."
James Monteleone: jmonteleone@daily-times.com
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