Weiser rural fire and ambulance district team up for pilot program

Weiser Area Rural Fire District firemen will now respond to ambulance calls if requested to assist paramedics and EMTs as part of a pilot program between the two agencies.
 The fire district board, the fire chief and ambulance district directors said teaming up on calls  is an idea worth trying, and it’s how emergency calls are commonly handled in many cities.
 Rural fire already assists on many emergency calls, in addition to fires, like car accidents to handle traffic or extrication.
 Rural fire chief and ambulance supervisor/adviser Tim Atwood said the fire district board and fire officials have talked about involving the department more with the ambulance.
 The pilot program will allow fire personnel to respond to ambulance calls where more manpower could be used, such as cardiac arrest and severe trauma.
 In those sort of critical calls, providing CPR takes more than two people to accomplish. While they would not provide medical assistance, firefighters could assist in other ways in those situations.
 “Handling cardiac arrest with two people is difficult. More hands are helpful on calls like that,” Atwood said.
 The fire department will not seek a state EMS license to perform medical intervention. The plan is to assist the ambulance with manpower in the event of critical calls. The ambulance would page out firefighters for assistance if needed.
 “It’s going to take some time to work through dispatch,” Atwood said.
 Atwood said he wanted to try a trial period and see how it goes. At the end of six months, ambulance and fire district officials will review the arrangement to see how it went.
 The rural fire district also has an agreement in place with the county sheriff if that department needs assistance, he said.
 Washington County commissioners, who also serve as the ambulance district board of directors, were in favor of using firemen to assist on ambulance calls.
 At a meeting last month, commissioner Nate Marvin said he supported starting with a trial period to see what works and what doesn’t.
 “In my opinion I think it’s a good move,” he said.
 The ambulance district also plans to transfer a surplus ambulance to the city that will be used by both the Weiser Area Rural Fire District and Weiser City Fire and Rescue.
 The rural fire station does not have room to park the ambulance, so it likely will be kept at the city fire station. Both the city and rural fire departments will share maintence of the ambulance.
 Atwood said he talked to fire and EMS services in Cambridge and Midvale and they did not have a need for the surplus ambulance. The ambulance district would not get a whole lot for it on trade in, he said.
 Atwood said the ambulance will be used for firefighter rehab at fires. It will be a vehicle that firefighters can use to get out of the heat in the summer or the cold of winter.
 Firemen will be able to take a break and rehydrate and rest in the back of the ambulance.
 The ambulance district was able to get a good price on a new ambulance that is expected to go into service in February. The price will be about $130,000-plus, which is a good deal these day, considering the cost of an ambulance has risen to about $150,000.