We Need to Be More Prepared

It's no secret the LMRFD needs more volunteers if they hope to have any coverage in the 144 square mile fire district when LMRFD firefighters are out covering the 2200 square mile area covered by the ambulance Certificate of Need.

Until that happens we need to be prepared to take care of our family, friends, and neighbors for a minimum of three days. The upcoming Emergency Preparedness Presentation at the Dolan Springs Community Council Hall this coming Saturday is a good place to start. INFO BELOW

BUT we need to do more. Everyone should be trained in CPR/AED and first aid. It can cost $25 per person to take a CPR/AED course. I know many people in the Dolan area don't have $100 for the family to take CPR. 

First Aid for Free is a great web page that teaches CPR/AED, first aid, and other classes like how to recognize and treat anaphylactic shock. First Aid for Free Web Page As you and your kids complete the classes you can print certificates for them showing they know what to do, and something cool to hang on their wall.

The last week or so at least twice there were no ambulances available in Kingman and ambulances needed to come from Lake Havasu City. Kingman has numerous EMS resources to respond and stabilize a patient until an ambulance can arrive.   

Recruiting and retaining volunteer firefighters has been a challenge for many departments across the country and in Arizona. The vast majority of firefighters in the United States are volunteers, they comprise 69% of firefighters. Of the total estimated 1,140,750 volunteer and paid firefighters across the country, 786,150 are volunteers who save billions of dollars a year for their department.

An article on FireRescue1 has three ways to recruit and retain volunteer firefighters.

In the past the LMRFD had quite a few volunteers. We need to identify what changes were made that caused the decline in volunteers, and what can be done to bring volunteers back.

These are the three things the FireRescue1 article recommends. My Comments in Italic 

• A lack of marketing on the part of the department leading to the perception that the local fire and EMS department is staffed full-time. 
• COMMENT: I have not seen any advertising in local media to recruit LMRFD volunteers.
• A weakening sense of community among the population in part because the department may not adequately reflect the diversity of people it serves. 
• COMMENT: We need more local people who represent our community.
• The ratio of men versus women in the fire service giving a misconception that a department is a “good old boys club.”
• COMMENT: As long as the LMRFD ambulance and the fire service remain one in the same requiring all volunteers to be firefighters rather than allowing women or people with no interest in becoming firefighters to volunteer as EMR's or EMT's on the ambulance volunteers will be difficult to recruit. 80% or more calls to the LMRFD are medical calls that could be managed by Basic Life Support providers like EMR's and EMT's.
• A lack of available or convenient entry-level fire and EMS training opportunities.

COMMENT: The LMRFD needs to do in-house training for volunteers. I've been with NACFD since August and I've received 90 hours of fire training, and 32 hours of EMS training to date.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PRESENTATION

Saturday February 3rd, 2018
11am to 1pm (Free Admission)

Dolan Springs Community Council Hall
15195 N Pierce Ferry Road

Facilitated By:

Emergency Preparedness & Response Coordinator Paul Pitts & Introduction by LMRFD Chief Tony DeMaio   

Drone's can Save Lives for First Responders and the Fire Service

If you've never seen drone video this Stroll Down Main Street Dolan Springs will give you an idea of the quality of video a drone can produce for first responders.

Drones or UAV's can be a life saver for firefighters doing search and rescue or size up at fires so firefighters can access the danger level and how to attack a fire. Safety First...

This is excellent drone video of a 2nd Alarm Commercial Structure Fire in Spokane. You can see in this video how a thermal imaging camera can give firefighters a perspective from above they could never get from the ground.

How A Drone Assisted Fairfield Firefighters Assistant Chief says the drone kept firefighter's safe.

There are so many videos on how first responders can use drones to keep property safe and save lives. Fire departments can apply for waivers from the FAA that make it easier to meet required regulations.

The Local Dangers We Don't See......

We all view things through our life experiences and training. Recently my fire training has me looking at things from a firefighters view.

As I went through BLEVE or Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion training a few weeks ago I realized the danger posed by the numerous accidents and the huge propane tank at US-93 and Pierce Ferry Rd.

If there was a fire threatening that huge propane tank the evacuation area is suggested to be one mile in all directions. If you think something like this can't happen here, it can, and it has.

It was almost 45 years ago on July 5, 1973 that a propane tank car being off-loaded in Kingman, AZ, caught fire, resulting in a BLEVE or boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion. On that day 11 Kingman firefighters and one civilian were killed. This was the worst firefighter tragedy in Arizona until 2013 when 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots firefighters were killed in the Yarnell Hill Fire.

In case something like this happens local people need to know how to react. Evacuate do not become a spectator and causality, run....

The propane tank in this example is like people have at home, it's nothing like the huge propane tank at US-93 and Pierce Ferry Rd.

EVERYONE needs to see this video for your safety and that of friends and family Example of a BLEVE  The really scary part of the video is at the beginning of the video, and again eight minute and 30 seconds in, it's a propane tank like everyone has at home.... and it's devastating...

Another video Only known video of the 1973 Kingman BLEVE

Be Safe.....

Better Survivability in Heart Attacks in the LMRFD

The fire chief has applied for a grant for a mechanical CPR unit. This will improve the survivability for patients in cardiac arrest. It will allows a two man ambulance crew to run a effective cardiac call by allowing the paramedic to monitor the patient and push medications as the CPR unit does CPR at the correct depth and rate without getting tired like an EMT.

We need more people trained in CPR and AED use and have any business with an AED well marked on the building.