Why do Fire Trucks Respond to Medical Emergencies?

 It is the policy of the Omaha Fire Department to provide the highest standard of care to sick and injured patients.The Omaha Fire Department  ensures the highest standard of care is being delivered to patients by providing the fastest response times as possible. These fast response times are achieved when the closest fire truck and medic unit are dispatched to an emergency call. The City of Omaha currently has 24 fire stations strategically placed throughout the city. Fourteen of these fire stations house Medic Units. As you can see from these numbers, a fire truck is most likely to be the first fire department vehicle to arrive at the scene of an emergency.

    All firefighters are certified either as an EMT or Paramedic. This means that when a fire truck arrives at the scene of a medical emergency, trained EMT’s or Paramedics begin life saving treatment before the arrival of the medic unit. In fact, all fire trucks are appropriately equipped to treat all live threatening emergencies ranging from cardiac arrest, asthma, diabetic, allergic reactions, falls, etc.

   One device that all fire trucks are equipped with is the AED or Automatic External Defibrillator. This piece of equipment is used to “Shock” or treat cardiac arrest patients. The chance of survival decreases dramatically the longer it takes to get the AED to the patients’ side. A patient’s chance of survival is dramatically reduced if the response time is delayed from 5 minutes to 10 minutes.

The Omaha Fire Department follows NFPA 1710 standards.  This standard states, “a fire department with AED capability must arrive within a four-minute response time frame to 90% of all emergency medical incidents.” The Omaha Fire Department can only achieve this standard by having the closest fire apparatus respond to emergencies. In most instances, this closest fire apparatus will be a fire truck. NFPA stands for National Fire Protection Association and sets standards that all fire departments must follow.

   In addition to being first on scene, it is also very important to have enough personnel available to appropriately treat critically injured or ill patients.  Having the two paramedics on the medic unit is not enough to appropriately treat these critically injured or ill patients. It takes the additional personnel  with training to correctly treat these patients. For example:

1 ) Two firefighters are needed to maintain the airway

2) One firefighter starts an IV

3) One firefighter defibrillates a cardiac arrest patient

4) One firefighter is needed to administer medication

5) One firefighter provides chest compressions.

 As you can see from this example it takes six firefighters to properly treat a critically ill patient.

   Many people have asked, “Why not send a fire truck to just critically injured or ill patients.” The truth is, in almost all incidents, that emergency responders do not know how critical the patient is until they get on scene.  It is standard operating procedure for the Omaha Fire Department to arrive at the scene of an medical emergency with the appropriate number of personnel to treat the patient. What may appear to be a minor illness or injury to the untrained bystander can turn out to be more serious. This serious condition requires the additional skills and staffing from firefighters assigned to a fire truck to properly treat the patient.

     In conclusion, the Omaha Fire Department would like all citizens to know that we strive to provide the highest standards of care possible. This can only be accomplished through a coordinated effort involving the response of both a Medic Unit and Fire Truck to medical emergencies.