The city of Los Banos provides rapid and professional emergency response to incidents that occur within the city limits. However traffic collisions, fires, and incidents requiring fire department and law enforcement units are not limited to artificial lines drawn on a map.  Whenever these sorts of incidents occur outside of the city limits other agencies generally respond.

Law enforcement presence at accident scenes is frequently handled by the California Highway Patrol especially when the incident occurs on the highways. Frequently, CHP officers are the first to arrive at the scene of motor vehicle accidents and they are often times the last to leave.  The CHP do collision investigations, direct traffic, call in emergency medical services, request tow trucks, and assist victims and EMS personnel. The state maintains a CHP station here in Los Banos.

In many cases, county law enforcement is handled by the Merced County Sherriff's Department. Led by Mark Pazin, the Merced County Sherriff's Department also has a sub-station in Los Banos. The Sherriff's Department responds to calls for service, does crime prevention, apprehends criminal offenders, enforces traffic laws, maintains correctional facilities, and (in their words) they are, "diligent in [their] role as Coroners to protect the rights and dignity of those who can no longer speak for themselves." They also have their own Dive Team units.

When there are motor vehicle accidents on the roads that surround Los Banos you will frequently see the white fire trucks of the Merced County Fire Department. County fire personnel are radio-dispatched from their communications headquarters in Mariposa. Frequently, county firefighters respond from one of the closest stations.  These are stations located in Los Banos, Santa Nella, and  Dos Palos. Merced County firefighters are responsible for more than just putting out fires and giving the first medical aid to victims. County firefighters are also likely to be the ones that perform rescues and cut open vehicles to remove occupants who have been pinned-in during a collision.

Another group of firefighters also may appear on the scene of motor vehicle accidents that occur in the areas surrounding Los Banos is 'Cal Fire'. Once called CDF (California Department of Forestry) they changed their informal name to Cal Fire a few years back. While best known for fighting wildland and forest fires, they also respond to motor vehicle accidents that occur near their stations and provide similar services to those that are described above.

Though accidents and incidents that occur in the 'county areas' are responded to primarily by the agencies above, there may be times when Los Banos police or fire units might be called upon to assist in the county or when county units could be utilized to aid and assist in the city. The bottom line is that inside or outside of the city, emergency personnel (be it law enforcement or firefighters) stand ready to help and to do so in a professional and efficacious manner.

If everyone in Los Banos would just take 1 or 2 hours a month to do something to help their neighborhood or their community we could truly make Los Banos the gem of the valley.

The above is only my personal opinion and I strongly encourage readers to seek out more information from expert sources. Copyright 2010