Warren firefighters begin providing emergency medical care

Warren firefighters begin providing emergency medical care

By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

This week the Warren Fire Department should have the ability to provide an additional service to Warren residents: A limited amount of emergency medical care.

The department has been confronted numerous times over the years with situations where firefighters were first on the scene of a fire, car wreck or other situation in which people needed emergency medical care.

Technically, Warren’s firefighters were unable to provide medical care in such emergencies because they didn’t have what Fire Chief Ken Nussle calls “protocol” — certification from medical professionals that fire department personnel have a sufficient level of training to provide such care.

Before a year ago, there was little reason to have such protocol because few of the department’s firefighters had emergency medical service training.

But with the hiring of 15 firefighters last year who are also emergency medical technicians, the department has EMTs to staff nearly every shift. By this week, the final paperwork should be in place to give the fire department its protocol, Nussle said.

Read the full story Monday in The VIndicator and on Vindy.com.