LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It's hard to believe the traffic-filled streets of the Las Vegas Strip will soon be a race track.
While locals and travelers await the big day, our local ambulance response teams are gearing up to create a seamless response for those attending the event.
We went for a ride-along with Community Ambulance to see how they are getting ready for the big week.
"For a first-year event of this magnitude, we don't have a playbook," said Community Ambulance senior director Glen Simpson. "So, we have to create that playbook almost from scratch."
David Monson, special operations manager for Community Ambulance, said planning for the Grand Prix has been similar to what they'd plan for New Year's Eve — another big event on the Las Vegas Strip.
"The way we prepare for New Year's Eve is similar to this — the road closures, we're not able to access both sides of the Strip from the normal Las Vegas Boulevard," Monson explained.
Planning for an event like the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix has been almost eight months in the making. Community Ambulance plans to bring on additional mechanics to help maintain their fleet for the event.
"These weekends certainly not only push our teams and resources to the limit, but when you go into a large event like this, a lot of the work is divided up," Simpson said.
Community Ambulance has worked with the Clark County Fire Department to come up with a plan that covers the entire Resort Corridor, Simpson added.
"We can't predict where the next 911 call will come from, so we'll challenge that plan throughout the day, throughout the night, all weekend — all to make sure if we do need to move additional resources to ensure no attendee doesn't have access to medical resources that they need," he said.
Simpson says Community Ambulance will have nearly 200 health care providers deployed each day of the Grand Prix.
"We'll meet at remote locations and then put them on buses and we'll deploy them out to the track," he explained.
As we wait to see how the huge event will actually play out for the first time, Simpson says their crews are already looking to the future.
"An event of this magnitude, as soon as we wrap this event up, we go in and support additional events that will happen here and we will use this as a playbook for the future," he said.
"Countdown to the 1" content is sponsored by Sim Coaches.
