Volunteer Firefighters a Need NOT a Want for Rural Fire Districts

NFPA estimates there were approximately 1,160,450 local firefighters in the U.S. in 2015. Of the total number of firefighters 345,600 (30%) were career firefighters and 814,850 (70%) were volunteer firefighters. Volunteer firefighters are the key to fire service and EMS in smaller 

In the LMRFD recruiting volunteers is not the priority, recruiting full time firefighters isn't the priority either. I've never seen an advertisement for volunteers or any recruiting from fire and EMS training schools like other districts. 

I was sad to see Chief Eder leave the NACFD. Chief Eder was more proactive about training and firefighter safety than other chiefs, especially for the volunteers. Chief Eder was a volunteer firefighter, his father was volunteer firefighter, and his grandfather was a volunteer firefighter.

He saw the value of volunteers who not only saved the district money, they provided manpower when needed providing additional support and safety for firefighters. In rural fire districts manpower is the most important factor. When an RV exploded in fire causing a womans death in the LMRFD, one firefighter showed up.  

Nation wide 7 out of 10 firefighters are volunteers. This is especially true in smaller communities like Dolan Springs, Chloride, White Hills, and Meadview. I'm afraid nothing will change in the LMRFD until we have a different fire chief. A chief who understands the majority of calls are EMS and the need for volunteer first responders to be trained in EMS and not required to be a firefighter. 

In the city firefighters have several things on their side, support services, response times, hydrants for water supply, and manpower. In rural fire districts response times are long and water is supplied by water tenders, formerly called tankers. It takes time equipment and manpower to move thousands of gallons of water to the fire. 

What training did your fire district provide their volunteers?

This is my training provided by NACFD since September 2017... 

Standard First Aid/CPR/AED

Nationally Certified Emergency Medical Responder

Wildland Fire Orientation

S-110 Basic Wildland Fire Orientation 

Incident Command System I-100 

National Incident Management System N-700

Hazardous Materials First Responder-Operations

Hazardous Materials First Responder-Awareness

S-130 Firefighter Training Classroom

S-130 Firefighter Training Field/Practical

Type 6 Engine Operations

Exterior Structural Firefighting

District Orientation/Safety

EVOC Emergency Vehicle Operation

Incident Rehab 2 Water Tender Operations

Emergency Communications

If you live in the NACFD Check Out Friends of NACFD #1 Blog

Follow Up on December 2016 Fatal Accident You Decide Cover UP?

On December 22nd 2016 there was a fatal accident on US-93 where an 18 year old boy was left to die. This is my ORIGINAL POST about the December 22nd 2016 fatal accident

I have been around EMS all my life. I've seen ambulances diverted to more serious patients numerous times. I have NEVER seen an ambulance diverted from a critical patient to a non-critical patient with a broken bone.

This is the heavily redacted EMS Bureaus REPORT on a complaint I filed against the LMRFD. I've seen redacted documents before, and understand HIPPA laws, but not only identifiers were removed from this document, all identifiers, locations, and many times were redacted. WHY this isn't some secret military operation requiring times and locations to be redacted, it's an accident on a US highway.

This is my ORIGINAL COMPLAINT to the EMS Bureau without redaction

You tell me.... I understand not identifying a patients private information like in the identifiers listed below, name, DOB, address, and account numbers..... BUT when they redact words like him, he, wife, Kingman, locations like mile posts and mile post numbers, and arrival times for EMS.

It looks like someone is covering up something....

These are the HIPAA Identifiers that should be removed from medical documents.

HIPAA Safe Harbor standards, 18 identifiers associated with the patient, their household members, relatives and employers must be removed, including:

• Names
• All geographic subdivisions smaller than a state, including street addresses, cities, counties, precincts and ZIP codes
• All elements of dates (except year)
• Telephone numbers
• Fax numbers
• Email addresses
• Social Security numbers
• Medical record numbers
• Health plan beneficiary numbers
• Account numbers
• Certificate or license numbers
• Vehicle identifiers and serial numbers, including license plate numbers
• Device identifiers and serial numbers
• Web URLs
• IP addresses
• Biometric identifiers, including finger and voice prints
• Full-face photographs and any comparable images
• Any other unique identifying number, characteristic or code

My NACFD Resignation

My NACFD Resignation

I resign as a volunteer firefighter for the NACFD.

I was disappointed in Board Chair Jim Bailey’s knowledge of what an EMR or Emergency medical Responder’s skills were. Saying an EMR was just someone who took a first aid class.

I did some checking on EMR’s before we started the class at NACFD. In the Arizona Bureau of EMS Statutes and Rules Book where I found that under Arizona law “an emergency medical responder is someone who is employed by an ambulance service” and “whose primary responsibility is the driving of an ambulance”.

ARS 36-2201 

6. "Ambulance attendant" means any of the following:

 (b) An emergency medical responder who is employed by an ambulance service operating under section 36-2202 and whose primary responsibility is the driving of an ambulance.

8. "Basic life support" means the level of assessment and care identified in the scope of practice approved by the director for the emergency medical responder and emergency medical technician.

16. "Emergency medical responder" as an ambulance attendant means a person who has been trained in an emergency medical responder program certified by the director or in an equivalent training program and who is certified by the director to render services pursuant to section 36-2205.

I also went to the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians web page. These are the people who nationally certify you as an EMR, EMT, or paramedic before you get certified by your state EMS Bureau.

On the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians Arizona Bureau of EMS page under EMS License Levels it says Arizona licenses Emergency Medical Responders, Emergency Medical Technicians, Advanced Emergency Medical Technicians, and Paramedics. https://www.nremt.org/rwd/public/states/state-ems-agencies/az

So unless someone actually called the Arizona EMS Bureau and asked, “do you certify EMR’s” it says so on the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians web page, and in the ARS, but what do they know?

I checked the National EMS Scope of Practice Model at EMS.gov and found there’s really not a lot of difference between an EMR and a EMT Basic with no additional training.

NOTE The Arizona EMS Bureau DOES NOT Recognize EMR’s WHY is what we need to ask….

I love when people listen to rumors and BS rather than check for themselves, especially when it comes to the law. It always makes them look ignorant.

Chairman Bailey EMR’s can do CPR, but yes you were kind of right about that, but EMR’s do so much more than a first aid person.

EMR’s do need to take the American Heart Association Basic Life Support CPR and AED program for BLS providers. The very same Basic Life Support CPR and AED program that EMT’s and Paramedics are required to take.

EMR’s can also use Airway and Breathing Adjuncts including the insertion of airway adjuncts intended to go into the oropharynx or nasopharynx. They can use positive pressure ventilation devices such as the bag-valve-mask to assist in breathing.

When someone’s airway is obstructed with vomit or bone, an EMR can suction the upper airway, and give supplemental oxygen therapy. And if that time comes, do CPR and use an automated external defibrillator.

They can do some very limited pharmacological interventions, manually stabilize suspected cervical spine injuries, do manual stabilization of extremity fractures, and control bleeding.

Chairman Bailey does that sounds like a basic first aider?

The National Scope of Practice says “A major difference between the Emergency Medical Responder and the Emergency Medical Technician is the knowledge and skills necessary to provide medical transportation of emergency patients”

So they get more training on loading and transporting patients than an EMR and they can do these additional skills.

1.   Airway and Breathing Insertion of airway adjuncts intended to go into the oropharynx or nasopharynx

2.   Use of positive pressure ventilation devices such as manually triggered ventilators and automatic transport ventilators

3.   Assist patients in taking their own prescribed medications

4.   Administration of the following over-the-counter medications with appropriate medical oversight: Oral glucose for suspected hypoglycemia and aspirin for chest pain of suspected ischemic origin

5.   Trauma Care Application and inflation of the pneumatic anti-shock garment (PASG) for fracture stabilization

So the only difference between an EMR and an EMT Basic with no additional advanced training is the EMT can:

1.   Use a better airway to secure your airway

2.   Help you open your own medicine and take it

3.   Use an positive pressure ventilation device as opposed to a bag valve mask

4.   They can give over-the-counter medications like glucose (sugar) or aspirin with appropriate medical

5.   In trauma they can use a pneumatic anti-shock garment what we used to call MAST Pants.

6.   Has the training to load and transport a patient by ambulance.

It’s sad when people who oversee vital services like the fire service understand so little about what firefighters and EMS providers do, and their levels of training.

Thank you for allowing me to train with the firefighters of NACFD

Jay Fleming

Dolan Springs AZ

LINK to Chief Eder's Blog

Why Does the LMRFD Make It So Difficult to Read the Fire Board Minutes?

I must not be the only person who feels frustrated reading the fire board minutes.

Does the LMRFD make it difficult to read the fire board minutes on purpose? It's so hard to read because you need to scroll up and down, then use the little arrow to move to additional pages, then scroll up and down.

They lock the text so you can't cut and past text. Why not use a format where citizens can read the entire minutes or even save or print a copy?

Why not start a Facebook page like the Kingman Fire Department https://www.facebook.com/KingmanFire or Bullhead City Fire https://www.facebook.com/bullheadcityfd or Mohave Valley Fire https://www.facebook.com/Mohave-Valley-Fire-Department-405362549662347 

Or the hundred other fire districts and departments. The LMRFD needs to be more citizen friendly when it comes to providing citizens information..