National Fire Service Has New Mandate, Including Ambulatory Service
Less than a month ago, government аррrоved thе іntеgrаtіоn оf еmеrgеnсу mеdісаl rеѕроnѕе аnd еmеrgеnсу ѕеаrсh аnd rеѕсuе to be part of thе mаndаtе оf thе Nаtіоnаl Fіrе Ѕеrvісе. While the work of the National Fire Service will go beyond fighting fires, going forward it also means that everyone who applies for the job will have new requirements. They will have to be physically fit to be able to endure search and rescue operations, as well as extrication of injured persons from burning buildings and vehicles. The upgrade to the fire service comes through a grant of four hundred thousand dollars from the Central America Regional Security Initiative, Economic Support Fund. News Five’s Marion Ali visited the Santa Elena Fire Station in Cayo where a simulation exercise, comprising all aspects of the fire service’s new equipment and units, was conducted for our cameras. Here’s that report.
Marion Ali, Reporting
This emergency call about a car accident with two persons trapped inside the mangled wreck was part of an exercise that the newly revamped National Fire Service carried out in Santa Elena. The call was received by the control centre here at the Belmopan Fire Station. This is where all calls placed to the Fire Service’s 9-9-0 emergency hotline are handled. Roberto Riverol is the Emergency Medical Service Project’s Liaison Officer for the National Fire Service. He explained the procedure when emergency calls are received, whether they are fire or medically related.
Roberto Riverol
Roberto Riverol, EMS Project Liaison Officer, National Fire Service
“Our dispatch centre or our emergency communication centre is a computer-aided dispatch system. It has computer-aided dispatch software which works with the satellite in providing GPS locations. We have a virtual dialer that we work with and is managed by Digi and we have routed all calls from the carriers, both Digi and Speednet over to our dispatch centre.”
For assurance, the dispatch centre is manned twenty-four-seven and is able to take calls from anywhere in the country.
Roberto Riverol
“The call comes into the dispatch centre, the dispatchers filter the call, probe the person to find out as much information as possible, so that we can inform the guys of what they’re up against once they arrive at the scene.”
Once the fire and ambulance teams arrive at the scene, they move in to begin the rescue and firefighting roles.
Colin Gillett
Colin Gillett, Fire Chief, National Fire Service
“The protocol is that the fire truck will respond but the ambulance will have to follow, to accompany, just in case someone is hurt or injured, we don’t want to have to wait to call them to come.”
Roberto Riverol
“The first thing to be mitigated would be the hazard, which would be the fire, to suppress the fire while the EMS team jumps into action to preserve life and cause less risks of further injury. So in this simulation here we have now the fire service acting in a dual capacity. There’s a lot of coordination between the fire attack team and the EMS team. So these guys have to be on point not to make any mistakes.”
Fire Chief, Colin Griffith says that for now, the new system is being tested out in the western part of Belize and will soon be extended to the other districts. Belize City will be the last to be included because there is currently the Belize Emergency Response Team that provides ambulatory service.
Roberto Riverol
“Once we receive the patient, we package the patient, we stabilize them, and we will notify the hospital’s ER via our radio communications or the dispatch centre would do it for us and so we would give them information about the condition of the person, mental status, estimated time of arrival, so that the ER can move efficiently and have a bed already prepared. We respond to medical emergencies, whether it be cardiac arrests, fainting, seizures, stroke, you name it. We have EMR, we have about five EMT’s now and we are sending guys abroad to study advance life support which is an addition to the service that we are providing.”
Riverol says that the plan is for the fire service teams to be able to offer advance life support capabilities, where they can administer medication intravenously to patients while they are in transit. Along with the upgrades is the addition of more firefighters to the fold. Griffith told News Five that they too will have to receive the adequate training to be able to carry out their new roles.
Colin Gillett
“When we have an intake, that firefighter will have to take a basic course to get in but we’ll also require that for you to be promoted, you’ll have to continuously get trained to move up.”
And what about issues such as torn hoses, inadequate response time, and poor firefighting techniques that have always troubled the department?
Colin Gillett
“The training is non-stop. Every week we do a different simulation in a different area. Some of the issues will still remain because a lot of the factors have not changed. If you look at the size of this truck, if you thinking that this truck has to go down some of the small streets in Belize City, it doesn’t matter which way the wind is blowing, we will always try to get on the scene faster. Another complaint is that the truck always runs out of water, but it’s a thousand-gallon tank and the pump will pump twelve hundred gallons a minute, so if you do the math, at full capacity, it will last like three minutes.”
But Gillett says that Belize Water Services Ltd. has been fully onboard in keeping the fire hydrants cleared and functional. Marion Ali for News Five.
