Posted on 04/12/2015 3:58:03 PM PDT by AlmaKing
When emergency apparatus roll out of fire houses across the state, lights flashing and sirens blaring, odds are the first responders on board aren't on their way to battle a blaze. Instead, more often than not they are called to medical emergencies, a trend fire officials say is mirrored across the country.
"There was a time when fighting fires was all we did," said Goffstown Fire Chief Richard O'Brien, President of the New Hampshire Association of Fire Chiefs. "Now we are more along the lines of all-hazard response systems."
"It seems more people are calling 911 for medical needs," said Nashua Assistant Fire Chief Steven Galipeau. "In the current medical climate, they get right in to see someone if they are transported to a health care provider by us, instead of waiting in a room to be seen if they go in on their own."
O'Brien said firefighters are available to respond to the medical calls because, simply put, there just aren't as many fires these days, a result of a fire prevention program launched in the 1980s.
"We have the ability to take on this role, due to staffing and resources," said O'Brien.
In Goffstown, between 70 and 80 percent of calls are medically related, O'Brien said. Similar numbers were reported by Concord.
In Manchester, firefighters responded to 14,392 medical calls in 2013, according to the fire department's annual report. The number rose to 15,907 in 2014, compared to 133 calls to structure fires. Ten years ago, the department responded to 10,390 medical calls, and 162 structure fires.
"We're up 1,000 calls in 2015, over last year at this time, and about 90 percent of those are medical calls," said Manchester Deputy Chief Daniel Goonan. "I would say a majority of those are drug-related."
In Laconia, the most recent annual report filed by the fire department shows crews responded to 3,896 medical emergency calls in 2014, compared to 125 actual fires.
According to the state Fire Marshal's office, 61 percent of all calls for service placed to New Hampshire fire departments in 2013 were for medical treatment, up from 60.6 percent in 2012 and 57.66 percent in 2011.
"It's something we're seeing across the country, not just in New Hampshire," said Deborah Pendergast, Director of the state's Fire Academy in Concord. "We've changed our course offerings and trainings to reflect the growing need, including training to administer Narcan to overdose victims, due to rising incidents involving heroin."
Nationally, the number of EMS calls to fire departments has increased nearly 300 percent since 1980, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).
In 1986, fire departments nationwide fielded 11.9 million calls - 19 percent fire-related, and 54 percent medical. By 2012, the most recent statistics available from the National Fire Production Association, departments received more than 31.8 million calls, of which 4.3 percent were fire-related and 68 percent medical. Other calls include false alarms, mutual aid and hazardous materials.
As emergency demands shift nationwide, more departments are diversifying their services by offering medical assistance, according to an NFPA release. About 65 percent of the country's fire departments offered emergency medical services in 2002, according to the U.S. Fire Administration, and would climb to 72 percent in 2014.
Hall said the increase can be traced to several factors, including growing awareness by the public awareness that fire departments often provide medical services.
"This is a trend we've seen since the 1970s," said O'Brien. "Back then, there were many fires. Over the years, thanks to changes in building codes, fire prevention efforts, the installation of smoke alarms and sprinklers, the number of fires has dropped dramatically."
Nashua Fire Rescue responds to about 300 fires a year in the city, but only 60 or so are considered large building fires, according to Nashua Assistant Fire Chief Steven Galipeau.
"The types of incidents we respond to cover a much wider range than we used to," said Galipeau. "There are a lot of hazardous material calls, motor vehicle accidents, and some are false alarms."
"Since 1996, every Nashua firefighter is an EMT-basic or higher. It's a qualification requirement to be hired," said Galipeau, who noted that most trucks carry defibrillators.
An EMT, short for emergency medical technician, is a first responder trained to provide medical treatment at the scene of an accident or other crisis.
"We are basically a first-responder EMS service, responding to life-threatening emergencies across the city," said Galipeau. "As the number of fires declines, the need for all-hazards responders continues to rise."
One legacy of 9-11 is the way all fire departments were able to leverage the sympathy into big budget increases.....I talked to a town commissioner in a small beach town in NC. The average income for the county is 26,000. The firefighters, who mostly have nothing to do, make 60K plus all the goobermint benefits and security.
I suspect this is not the only town in America with an under worked over paid fire department.
You’re correct, and in large proportion another segment of the government/union/Democrat rock solid alliance.
I think they get to bill. In many cases there is no need for a traditional fire truck to respond to a heart attack call. Double billing.
My discovery about fire fighters is that they have leveraged on local and state levels to have expensive fire sprinkler and monitoring systems installed in most rehabs as well as new construction. Effectively stopping multi construction off city water, and in some towns requiring it in single family new constructions.
This gives retirement jobs to firefighters as well as second incomes as they become owners and employees in inspections and installations.
All forced on you by the state and firefighter cronies.
And you are right about that as well.....not so much in this little town in particular, but across the country fo shizzle.
As an aside, about 2-3 days before 9-11, I saw a documentary on how superior the Cincinnati Fire Department was to the FDNY - because the unions prevented FDNY from buying modern equipment, because it would replace union jobs.
I wonder why no one ever asks why we were responding to 9-11 with equipment from the 1800s in many cases......there is an answer to it.
Oh, that documentary cannot be found today. I’m sure it was destroyed on, about 9-12.
damn, crony firemen.......sad fact is, there are many marines who now fake injury for disability, many cops who are corrupt, and even the fire fighters.
Lost and dying world....
Lift weights, eat, sleep, watch TV. Follow ambulance crews around town, retire at 55 with a full pension.
With modern advances in home construction and fire prevention nobody has fires anymore. If you asked a firefighter how many actual fires he saw in his career, he'd say one or two.
Another time it was an hispanic male who complained about injuring his shoulder in a soccer game; turns out he'd strained his muscle. They gave him a sling, and then he told them he was having trouble with his bowel movements. They prepared to take him to the ER, but when he learned he had to give the ER some identification, he declined (can you say illegal?). All they could do was tell him to go see a doctor.
I had my first 911 ambulance ride a few days after new years.
On a Sunday night I was by myself. The spouse was at some event that evening, a bit out of the ordinary.
About 6 or so, I felt the familiar pain of the kidney stone. Haven’t had one in 15 - 20 years. It hit hard and fast. I got as as far as the carport door intending to drive myself. That idea lasted for 20 seconds. I called around to spouse and got voice mail, called her cousin the former nurse. She had a problem with caring for her elderly mother so I called 911. 20 minutes later on drugs at the ER.
My wife got the message and met me during the drugs and took me home.
The ride was pleasant enough considering the misery.
I work in a medium sized police dept.ina medium sized city. All firemen are also emt’s This is because not every town has a rescue squad big enuff to respond to all the calls. I have waited for for quite awhile waiting on the squad...people are thankful that life saving personnel are coming...and they don’t care where they come from
In my home town it is more like a paid vacation.
Rural firefighters get lots of calls and have to treat every structure and car fire like it is a meth lab.
Yep—and lots of those firemen and their ilk retire at midlife with decades and decades of pension payments keyed off of those inflated salaries.
Impact fees and ambulance bills near $10,000, oh yeah.
In most communities, what used to be fire departments are now better described as emergency medicine departments that also extinguish fires. Nevertheless, they have a monopoly on firefighting skills, and the community will always have to maintain an adequate fire suppression capability, and that dictates the number of stations needed and your minimum personnel requirements. What our community has done is staff the minimum suppression staff, insist that they all be cross-trained in medical responses, then hired additional single purpose medical personnel. The latter are considerably cheaper than unionized firefighters, yet are fully qualified to provide emergency medical services, including transport.
Where the dividing line is between the staffing needed to provide fire and paramedic services, and the additional staff needed once the spare time of the career firefighting personnel has been reached is a matter of community size and standards. In our case, we crossed that line about five years ago, and the decision to hire people who were solely dedicated to the paramedic function has worked well.
The way it works here, a medical aid call gets the closest engine company, whose firefighter/paramedic provides immediate care, then the patient is turned over to the single purpose paramedics for transport.
I think that’s going to become a pretty common arrangement for mid-sized cities. You get maximum use out of your expensive personnel, then handle the overload in a more cost effective manner.
BTW, there’s an awful lot of smoke from a CO “prescribed” burn that wasn’t publicized much. Very windy, too.
Oh... and... Resuscitation trained EMT’s are nice, but fully trained paramedics provide a better standard of care. Fire departments should make paramedic certification a prerequisite for hiring.
The documentary film Burn, about the Detroit Fire Department, has some interesting insights along those lines. It’s a three buck rental at Amazon.
It’s true. Our guys don’t have anything to do and a 911 call gets the fire truck guys out along with an ambulance. Kinda nuts.
The ignorance on this thread needs an ambulance.
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