Extrication

[dropdeded]

Where I worked, we utilized communication. The IC for the fire department would tell us his plan and how it may affect the pt as far as movement wise.

All is takes is teamwork and communication.

Let them cut away, thats what they are there for...cutting cars, carrying my patients, doing compressions, fetching equipment, blocking the scene with their big truck, and occassionally putting out fires.

Thats pretty much how it works in my area. We get along with great with most of the area fire crews. Its a mutual respect thing in most cases and much appreciated.

ed

[pmedic623]

I still come from the mind set a charged line should be available

R/R 911

Amen Brother! Pull your hose fireman, I don't care to ignite.......623

[medic53226]

Our Vol. Fire dept and City have their own tools and are very good at having the pts out and on the strectcher in the minimal amount of time. I think it would be something intresting to do, but they can handle it.

[emt322632]

Wow...listening to all this sounds like a fairy tale land of magical chocolate lollipops lol...My primary squad is ALWAYS butting heads with the fire department over who should do extrication. Perfect example, today we had a 3 car MVA, and our first truck out the door was our extrication truck, no ambulances...the extrication truck. With one extrication certified person on board.

This doesn't make much sense to me, especially since the Fire Department was able to muster a much better response for its rescue than we were. Only a handful of people on our squad are certified to do extrication, namely 5...and only 1 of them shows up half the time.

It bugs me that this is how the squad operates, more willing to send a crash truck first out than an ambulance. But that's the way the higher ups want it, and that's how it has to be done...

[Arachne]

In both areas where I work the FD is responsible for gaining access to the patient if not readily available - this can include MVAs with entrapment, patients in locked apartments, etc.

We do butt heads sometimes - but as long as we all manage to stay calm and communicate, we generally get through things. Some cross-training and meetings have also been very helpful for each side to understand and facilitate the goals of the other. We do the best we can for the patient while allowing them to play with as many toys as possible, and they do the best they can to get us fast & safe access to the patient while not causing us to cringe in dismay. :tongue:

[Rezq304]

Wow...listening to all this sounds like a fairy tale land of magical chocolate lollipops lol...My primary squad is ALWAYS butting heads with the fire department over who should do extrication. Perfect example, today we had a 3 car MVA, and our first truck out the door was our extrication truck, no ambulances...the extrication truck. With one extrication certified person on board.

This doesn't make much sense to me, especially since the Fire Department was able to muster a much better response for its rescue than we were. Only a handful of people on our squad are certified to do extrication, namely 5...and only 1 of them shows up half the time.

It bugs me that this is how the squad operates, more willing to send a crash truck first out than an ambulance. But that's the way the higher ups want it, and that's how it has to be done...

Know the feeling man....that's how it was here up until recently.....now, FINALLY, it's a 30 day suspension if you are the one that rolls a crash-rescue vehicle before an ambulance.

[erasokamotesk]

i don't like it.

[bbems88]

FD do the extrication here. We both work together, well i should say only a handful of squad people work well with the fire department. They do an excellent job always asking if we need help or how long they have to work. When they go drilling, they invite us but of course only that handful of the squad actually go out to learn something. They dont want to learn about rescue because we are only a ambulance squad not "rescue" squad

[docspoon1666]

till about 8 years ago there was 2 dept. in my district, rescue dept and a fire dept. at that point the 2 merged due to money problems with rescue. to merge only made all the sense in the world, we are a rural area and our tax basin is getting larger but money that is acquired thru taxes can be spent for both fire and rescue. thanks to smoke alarms and fire detection systems fully involved structures are rare. so the majority of calls are medical and 10-50s so equipping our first out engine with the basic extrication equipment makes sense, we also have a crash truck for more complex extrication and heavy rescue. we have 48 voly members and 3 paid personnel during the day when the rest of us work, with all the people in the dept. at last count we had 34 EMTs and growing. in our dept when a call come out as a lower GI bleed I'm lucky if there is one other there with me, but now dispatch 10-50 entrapment i get 47 people responding. in the fire service the leading cause of FF deaths is heart attacks so even when there is one of the few fully involved structures there is plenty of medically trained personnel to handle it. don't get me wrong i love doing medical but that doesn't mean i cant enjoy putting the wet stuff on the red stuff. its a totally different Adrenalin rush just ask any FF. so to the areas who butt heads to see who get to do extrication

[itku2er]

Well here where I am from in VA the FD usually does the extracation......but some of us are extracation certified so we do get to help if we want to and another EMT is there to render care....the FD cheif is usually the one in charge so what he says goes....all 4 of our volly FD have crash trucks fully equiped and ready to go....we have 3 dept that are combined fire and rescue...two are volly one is paid.....I have seen the guys on the paid services....leave the ambo and gear up and to do extracation or fight a fire.....depends on the person...but for the most part we do work together when we need to ..we come together as a team........then when all is said and done, we go back to the "My dept is better than your dept" thing...too much politics and egos in this small town...... :roll: