Speakers
- Lance Maples, Interim EMS Division Chief, San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District
- Denton Carlson, San Ramon Chief of Police
Summary
Our October 2023 General Meeting was held on October 19, 2023 at 7 pm over Zoom. It featured updates on Innovative Behavioral Health Crisis Response, San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District Implements Behavioral Health Fire First Program.
For our October General Meeting, we received updates on an innovative behavioral health crisis response program. In 2021, the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District (District) recognized the need to change how they received, responded to, and transported behavioral health emergencies. This need for change was highlighted not only by what was happening at a local and national level but also by their own personnel who led from the ground up and advocated for a better approach to these types of emergencies. The District developed an innovative program that was the first of its kind to recognize behavioral health incidents as medical emergencies, allowing Fire/EMS resources to respond to these incidents within seven (7) minutes. Partnering with SRVFPD, Mental Health Specialist Training that highlighted de-escalation techniques was provided by NAMI Contra Costa for over 200 District personnel and San Ramon Police Department (SRPD) staff.
Interim EMS Division Chief, Lance Maples, of the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District was born and raised in Contra Costa County. He started his fire service career in 1988. In the last 35 years, he worked in the fire service for the City of Pinole Fire Department, Cal Fire, City of Fairfield Fire Department, El Cerrito/Kensington Fire Protection District serving for 13 years as Fire Chief, and was the Interim EMS Division Chief for the San Ramon Valley Protection District.
San Ramon Chief of Police, Denton Carlson, held a Master’s in Emergency Services Administration from California State University, Long Beach, and was a California Peace Officer Standards and Training Command College graduate, where he received the Dorothy Harris Award for Outstanding Academic Excellence. He was also a graduate of the California Police Chiefs Association’s Executive Development Certificate Program and the Executive Certificate Program in Transformative Leadership from California State University, East Bay. In addition, he was a member of the Faculty at the University of San Diego, where he taught within their Master’s program in Law Enforcement and Public Safety Leadership.
