Are Fire Engines Necessary On Medical Calls?

Tools

By Steve Wellman

Story Published: Oct 7, 2008 at 5:39 PM PDT

A fire engine. A massive piece of equipment that only gets a few miles to the gallon. And it's really outfitted to do several things well: fight fires and perform rescues. But these big monsters are still sent out on every 9-1-1 medical emergency call. It seems wasteful. Couldn't medics in an ambulance handle things alone?

Yakima Fire Chief Charlie Hines says, "It's a good question people ask: why do firefighters show up and why do they drive this big engine?"

Hines almost every city in America sends fire equipment on medical calls, because time is critical and fire engines carry more than just hoses; things like defibrilators.

"In a cardiac arrest every minute that passes your chances of being resuscitated decrease by ten percent," say Chief Hines.

Firefighters often reach a patient first...since there are many stations spread around the area.

Firefighter Kai Nishida tells Action News, "For the most part we arrive there early and so we're the first people on the scene to take care of the patients.”

And Chief Hines adds that it's better to take along items you might not need...rather than get to an emergency and realize you're missing a vital tool. "We've got the jaws of life the cutters used for auto extrication and it runs off this Honda generator and through hydraulic fluid."

One more thing: since firefighters often go from call to call without returning to the station...using a smaller vehicle to go to medical calls just wouldn't work out.

"If you and I are in a pickup truck with our first aid supplies on a chest pains call it's Murphy's Law...as soon as we complete that a fire call comes in," says Hines.

So that's why the big rigs are always on scene for medical calls, no matter how minor.

Upload directly from your mobile device.

Learn how

YouNews

This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.

On Demand

Stay Connected