Fire truck totaled?

Hi folks,

To answer some of your questions: Lamar County Fire and Rescue is a certified First Response organization, while Barnesville Fire Department is not. Thus, for medical calls, Barnesville does not respond, but LCFR does. As Jan said, CPR is very physically challenging, and requires a lot of hands. Thus, any call that involves or could potentially involve CPR is grounds for first responders to be dispatched. The man on Engine 1 is a first responder (actually certified and licensed as an EMT-Intermediate). If you've never been involved in a CPR call (or a code, as the lingo goes) it may be difficult to understand how much help is needed.

As for the fire engine repsonding, that is because the duty officer cannot ever be far from the truck. If he responded in a more fuel-efficient vehicle, then a fire occured, it would greatly increase response time.

First responders (including Engine 1) are not dispatched for calls that the ambulance crew can handle without help. But anything that involves chest pain, difficulty breathing, difficulty accessing a patient, or extremely heavy patient requires more than 2 people.

Charlie Muise

Julia,

I don't know how long ago your mother passed, or how many people responded to calls there. But the fire dept does send out "cancel" pages if there are adequate personnel on scene. Very often dispatch does not know how many people are needed to respond to an emergency, and it's better to send too many and cancel them, than it is to have inadequate personnel. You may want to look at how many personnel show up at a scene now - you'd likely agree that it is rarely too many, or that most are doing nothing.

Engine 1 has indeed responded to Heritage Inn many times, and the crew has been essential for many of those calls. It has also been dispatched and later cancelled a number of times. One benefit to having First Responders arrive in their own vehicle ("POV" as the lingo goes) is that they can often cancel Engine 1, if it's not needed. Thus saving fuel and keeping the engine available for other calls. This is particularly important for calls in the distant corners of the county, such as Pietmont Road, I-75, Forsyth-Yatesville Road, etc.

Charlie Muise

Hi Julia,

The call was for cardiac arrest. The driver was a full-time, paid man with a number of years of experience here, and also a number of years experience at a bigger department. I can't speak to the cause, the speed, etc because I was not there. I presume there will be a public report at some point, but I'm not privy to when that will be, or how it'll be distributed.

You are correct when you say that you'd need to hear what dispatch said. The women who work Lamar's 911 system (all under the sheriff) can only relay that information that is given to them. Sometimes that information is sketchy, missing important points, or altogether incorrect. They are human and make mistakes too, but most often it is the (often panicked) person calling 911 who causes any mis-communication. So sometimes the response may seem greater or lesser than what may seem warranted.

Lamar firefighters are trained to give a brief radio report upon accessing any situation, and then either cancelling or asking for more resources, as appropriate. I'll tell you that I personally do not like to go on a call where I am not needed, and greatly appreciate being cancelled from such.

Charlie Muise

My personal opinion is that that would be a good thing. But I believe the City Council would have to make that decision?