DEL MAR -- Most of the people pouring through the gates of the San Diego County Fair during its 22-day run will never need the blue-shirted medics who cruise among the crowd on bikes and motorized carts.

Have a sudden medical problem, though, and they can be by your side in a flash.

They'll bring along first-aid supplies and equipment and put it to use upon arrival, or help you get to a small, onsite medical clinic.

And if things get really scary health-wise, they'll call in the ambulance standing by on the fairgrounds or radio for a medical helicopter to whisk you to a hospital.

The roving medics are among several dozen certified emergency medical technicians and nurses on the payroll of the 22nd District Agricultural Association, which puts on the fair every year. Based in the four-bed clinic on the eastern end of the fairgrounds' grandstand, the team's job is to take care of fairgoers' medical needs.

A visit with the medical team Thursday revealed that all its members are certified Emergency Medical Technicians or mobile intensive care nurses and that up to 20 of them are likely on duty at the fair at any given time.

EMT coordinator Robert Barrow and nursing supervisor Sergio Morquecho said the job is a second one for most team members, who typically are also employed by local fire departments or hospitals.

"They're all handpicked and very skilled and very good with people," Morquecho said. "That's very important in this type of situation."

Numbers provided by Barron show the medical team treated 1,575 patients during the fair's 2006 run. That number included 91 patients whose ailments were serious enough that they were transported to a hospital or opted to head to one on their own.

The team had no patients in the first few hours the fair was open Thursday. However, Barron and Morquecho predicted that the number of people needing medical aid would pick up as the day wore on, temperatures got hotter, and visitors began wearing out.

Patient loads also tend to spike during fair-sponsored concerts and other large-arena events, where the combination of alcohol and excitement often causes sudden blood pressure drops and fainting, the men said.

"You've just got to triage them real quick and determine who needs to go to the hospital," Morquecho said.

Scrapes, bruises and heat-related health problems -- including dehydration, headaches and sunburns -- are the most common complaints handled by the medical team, though. New parents who forget their diaper bags, food vendors who cut or burn themselves, and people suffering from too much sun, fun and noise often seek out the clinic as well, Morquecho said.

The medical team sometimes sees more serious ailments, however. Fairgoers with skyrocketing blood pressure or heart attack or stroke symptoms typically are stabilized, then transported to hospitals, which have already received information about the patients' conditions via monitors used by the fair's medical team, Barron said.

It's rare, but the fair's EMTs and nurses also have treated severely injured patients.

That happened in 2001, when motorcycle daredevil Bubba Blackwell was critically injured in a fair performance crash witnessed by 50,000 people.

Barron, who is also a firefighter with the Del Mar Fire Department, was in the arena as the accident occurred and immediately ran to help Blackwell.

Barron said the experience gave him a new perspective on providing emergency medical aid.

"It's one thing to go to a call after something happens," he said. "It's entirely different to have something happen right in front of you and have no time to prepare. When you're on scene, you just have to react. Luckily, your training kicks in."

Contact staff writer Andrea Moss at (760) 739-6654 or amoss@nctimes.com.