Paramedics assist Rural Fire Service with training
On Saturday 11 July, Ambulance was invited to assist the Rural
Fire Service (RFS), Blue Mountains Zone, in providing interagency
training for their trainee crew leaders and senior volunteer fire
fighters. Specifically involving incidents such as motor vehicle
accidents and structural building
fires where inherently our two services often meet. Brigades from
Winmalee, Blackheath-Mount Victoria and Woodford were all involved
in the training
exercises on the day.
Everyone was egger to get their hands dirty with not only providing fire protection to the incidents but also with learning how best to help the victims and patients at the scene.
Penrith Team Leader Paramedic David Arthur and myself added significant realism at the motor vehicle incident scenario, providing treatment to the simulated patients and instructing the trainee fire fighters on safe extrication techniques and basic patient care and support. As David and I are also volunteer RFS fire fighters in Penrith we are both very aware of the vital relationship that exists between the RFS and Ambulance.
We received fantastic feedback from the organisers of the day as well as from the fire fighters who were really put through their paces. They enjoyed the realism and the opportunity to expand their individual experiences of working alongside other agencies in dangerous and time critical environments.
This exercise goes hand in hand with several Ambulance familiarisation nights that David and I have undertaken with staff from local NSW Rural Fire Brigade Stations, giving these volunteers a closer look at what we do and the tools that we do it with and hopefully fostering a stronger working relationship within the emergency service community.
While this was a fantastic learning experience, we also had a great time, sharing our on-road paramedical and fire fighting experiences. They showed us that at an incident, these fire fighters are capable of a lot more than just holding up the Hartmanns for us paramedics.
A big thanks to Peter Church, Crew Leader Co-ordinator Rural Fire Service Blue Mountains and all of the RFS Volunteers who worked with David and I on the day.
Jason Tanti
Paramedic
Ambulance is committed to assisting the community create safer and healthier environments and outcomes by making prevention everyone’s businesses. A number of innovative community education programs have been implemented to assist identify life threatening conditions, understand what to do in an emergency and the importance of adopting illness prevention strategies.