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Morning Lineup – April 14

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Saturday Morning – Cell Phones On

Out of the 30,000+ fire departments in the U. S., a goodly number of them have their own web pages by now.  But only a small percentage of them have what I would call an excellent or even effective website.  Many departments go out of their way to host a website that is truly informative and meant to engage the citizens by telling them useful things.  Over the past five years I have looked at untold hundreds of FD websites in the course of putting together this blog each day, and I have seen all manners of fire department websites….all the way from crap-ola to excellent.

So far, I haven't seen any that come close to the amazing interactive website hosted by the San Ramon Valley (California) Fire Protection District.  Rather than repeat here everything I have already noted about them, I will refer you to my previous postings HERE and HERE on their imaginative and innovative use of the internet and urge you to take the time to read them.  Another feature that they introduced just over a year ago is their citizen CPR program that sends alerts to registered volunteers about CPR incidents nearby that they might be able to respond to and initiate life-saving before the ambulance gets there.  We wrote about it in January of last year HERE and said in part:

Check out this latest addition to their citizen partnership policy, a CPR notification signal. This new app utilizes the GPS technology that is built into cellphones and is installed on the phones of people who are certified CPR performers. To just explain it briefly, if there is a 9-1-1 call for a cardiac incident in the San Ramon Fire District territory, the dispatch will also send an alert to people who are registered in the program and in the immediate area at that moment. It will tell them three things: Where the incident is and what it is, a map showing where the address is located, and a map showing where the nearest AED is available.  The whole idea of course, is to get life-saving help to the victim as soon as possible and perhaps start CPR several minutes before the ambulance arrives.

What brought this program to mind this morning was a press release that told about the developer of that CPR app being a finalist nominee for a major award for their program.  I didn't realize it, but it makes sense that the app itself is commercially available and can be used by any public service agency that qualifies.  And making this even better is that use of the program is FREE.  Click on over to PulsePoint's WEBSITE HERE to learn even more about it.  If your agency has a dedicated IT staff  of one or a dozen, this is a great way to provide a genuine service to your citizens.

Firegeezer notes that this is the type of activity  that goes a long way to protect the FD's reputation and budget from the onslaught of bent politicians.

Let's get started with our equipment check now.  I need to get some good, high-octane coffee going, too.  See you back in the day room.

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Posted by on April 14, 2012 • Filed under: morning lineup, Technology & Communications, technology-communications-ems-topics • Tagged: ,

Another use for rip shears: deflated air bag removal (Updated)

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Aggressive driving activates side air bag curtains

 

Comments with alan1320x's post:

Paul Beiswenger with Lopez Tires and A&D Autosport got a big surprise while drifting at Milan Dragway in Milan MI. The passenger suffered burns on her right arm.

So you can't drift your Fifth gen Camaro without getting burned by your airbags?

Shamelessly copied from Justin Hyde at Jalopnick.com:

Camaro’s air bags spontaneously deploy doing donuts

Justin awaits a response from General Motors, adds this speculation:

Our guess is the accelerometers used by the air bag system to sense when a crash happens got just enough g-force to assume the Camaro was about to smack something hard — but it's an unusual way to spoil not just a track day but the view on the ride home.

The trackside ambulance crew used rip shears to remove the deployed curtain air bags.

UPDATE: GM response (as posted in Jalopnik):

GM's Alan Adler said this: It is unusual to have this occur.

However, it is possible for a driver to create conditions where the air bag sensors believe a rollover is imminent. This can lead to an unwanted air bag deployment.

On rollover side curtain bags, the vehicle's rollover sensing system is looking for a certain set of factors that "predict" a vehicle is going to roll over.

The airbag system cannot wait until it is too late to deploy the airbags.

Drifting or creating a situation that has a certain combination of speed and vehicle angle can lead to an unwanted air bag deployment.

Who knew!?!

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

Posted by on August 11, 2011 • Filed under: cars, EMS Topics, News, technology-communications-ems-topics, Vehicle Operation & Ambulances, Videos • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

iPad Makes Its First Rescue

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iPad Leads Rescuers to Man Buried in Snow Drift

GUTHRIE, OKLAHOMA, FIREFIGHTERS WERE ABLE TO SAVE an elderly man who had fallen into a snow drift Thursday thanks to the fire chief’s iPad tablet.

KOCO-TV image

The 80-yr.-old man had fallen in a farm pasture and his care-giver was unable to get out to him.  She called 9-1-1 and an ambulance was dispatched.  But the rescue unit became stuck in the snow themselves and radioed back for help.  KOCO-TV continues the story:

Fire Chief Lester Branch headed out with his iPad and guided the ambulance crew through a map application.

Branch asked the ambulance team to find a particular road sign.  “From that point, we could give them exact directions and follow this trail,” he said.  The ambulance crews were able to find and rescue the elderly man.

“I think we all agree the use of the iPad was a huge tool in doing that,” said Branch.

Watch KOCO-TV’s video report on this quick-thinking solution that saved a life:

 

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Posted by on February 5, 2011 • Filed under: ambulances, rescue, Rescues, technology-communications-ems-topics, Videos • Tagged: , , ,

Morning Lineup – January 31

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Monday Morning Lineup

Those innovative folks at the San Ramon Valley (California) Fire Protection District IT section have gone and done it again.  I’m referring to their imaginative and ground-breaking uses of the internet and cellphones to bring their FRD into the mainstream of everyday life of their citizens.  In May of last year we told you about their terrific WEBSITE HERE that is packed with information, and then on July 7 we reported HERE about their cellphone app that taps directly into their dispatch center with live posting of active fire/rescue activity, what units are on the call, maps of the locations, and even a live audio of the dispatch and fireground radio.  And yes, the app is free and available to everybody.

If you missed it the first time around, please take time to click on those links and see what they have been doing with this internet thingy and make sure that you watch the video.  Then check out this latest addition to their citizen partnership policy, a CPR notification signal.  This new app utilizes the GPS technology that is built into cellphones and is installed on the phones of people who are certified CPR performers.  To just explain it briefly, if there is a 9-1-1 call for a cardiac incident in the San Ramon Fire District territory, the dispatch will also send an alert to people who are registered in the program and in the immediate area at that moment.  It will tell them three things:  Where the incident is and what it is, a map showing where the address is located, and a map showing where the nearest AED is available.

The whole idea of course, is to get life-saving help to the victim as soon as possible and perhaps start CPR several minutes before the ambulance arrives.  Watch this video demonstration of how it works:

 

Since we first posted the stories on this department’s tech enrichment, thousands of other FRD’s have been exposed to it.  So far, I haven’t heard of anybody making any moves to a similar style of public awareness, but I’ve sure seen a lot of stories about how the firefighters are doing things that alienate their communities.  If your department is moving in the same direction that SanRamon is, please tell me about it so we can share your story too.

Ok, let’s get this equipment checked out now.  It’s Monday, so we have the weekly checks to make as well.  I’ll make sure we’ve got plenty of coffee ready.  See you back in the day room.

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Posted by on January 31, 2011 • Filed under: morning lineup, technology, technology-communications-ems-topics • Tagged:

Solar Ambulance Introduced in Texas

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THE AUSTIN-TRAVIS COUNTY EMS unveiled a new type of ambulance at the Texas EMS Conference that opened yesterday.

KXAN-TV

Referring to it as a “solar ambulance,” the agency officials say that they expect to achieve a 47% improvement in their fuel milage.  Solar panels on the roof of the box will power the unit’s electronics and onboard equipment.   KXAN-TV shot some video at the conference:

 

The Austin American-Statesman explains how it works:

After months of looking for ways to make their fleet more environmentally sensitive, officials with Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services will begin using solar energy to more frequently power electronics and other equipment on ambulances during times they once idled in place.

Paramedics will primarily kill the engines of ambulances with solar panels outside hospitals while delivering patients, a process that can take about 30 minutes. Medics have previously kept the engines running to preserve medication temperatures and to maintain the power to equipment.

EMS officials said calculations show the switch will reduce gas consumption by several hundred gallons per unit, save gas money — up to $4,000 a year per ambulance — and decrease emissions.

In Austin, the effort to partially shift to solar energy for ambulances is part of a citywide move to use cars and trucks that are more environmentally friendly. The city already uses biodiesel for many of its ambulances and fire engines and owns more than 200 hybrid cars.

EMS officials have ordered five additional ambulances with solar panels and hope to buy more next year. The agency usually has about 35 ambulances on the street at any given time.

The two solar panels on the roof are expected to supply enough
power to operate the system electronics and equipment chargers.
(KXAN-TV image)

The primary ambulance in the city’s ambulance fleet is currently the International ”medium duty” chassis and box.  After looking around for alternatives that are less costly to operate and more “environmentally friendly,” the city decided to purchase two Ford F-450 units that not only get better milage, but the total cost for the slightly smaller ambulance is $30,000 less.

Read the full story in the American-Statesman HERE.
Austin-Travis County EMS Department WEBSITE.

Posted by on November 23, 2010 • Filed under: ambulances, EMS Topics, technology, technology-communications-ems-topics, Videos • Tagged: , ,

Lawsuit dismissed – no special relationship

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A carbon monoxide leak kills two tourists in Ocean City, MD on June 27, 2006. This week a federal judge dismissed the $20 million civil lawsuit against Ocean City paramedics, stating no “special relationship” was forged between the defendants and the victims.

The incident lead to a town ordinance requiring CO alarms to be installed in hotels and motels in the Eastern Shore resort.

911dispatch.com posted a .pdf of lawsuit  (HERE)

CONFUSION AT THE SCENE LEADS TO NO PATIENT CONTACT

OC_PM01_web Ocean City EMS conducted an investigation and provided a timetable at a July 13, 2006 media briefing.

The following timeline comes from the 2006 briefing augmented with details within the 2009 lawsuit.

  • 9-1-1 received a call around 9:27 am from Room 125 where caller stated “Something is wrong with my daughter and I, we just don’t feel well at all. Would you please send somebody up here?.” The caller also said that they could not breathe, and they had a pounding headache and just didn’t feel like they were able to stay awake.
  • First paramedic ambulance dispatched at 09:30 am.
  • Second paramedic ambulance dispatched at 09:31.
  • First paramedic ambulance arrived at hotel at 9:32 am, second unit arrives 9:33 am.
  • Yvonne Boughter, a nurse on vacation with her family,  placed her first 9-1-1 call at 09:43 am. Boughter told the dispatcher her family had been ill all night. Husband was having trouble breathing, speaking and vomiting. Daughter was vomiting. She gave the dispatcher her room number, 121, and confirmed it later in the conversation, and also provided her cell phone number before lapsing back into unconsciousness.
  • (The 2006 OC EMS timeline states “At 9:45 a.m., another 911 call was received, this time from room 121 of the Day’s Inn for four victims complaining of what they believed to be food poisoning.”)
  • Third paramedic ambulance dispatched at 9:48 am in response to Boughter 9-1-1 call. Dispatch said the caller was in “Room one-two-one, 121″
  • Third paramedic ambulance arrives at 9:54 am, was directed by the first paramedic unit to assist them with the four patients found in Rooms 125 and 127.
  • All three ambulances used to transport patients from 125 and 127. Transports made at 09:54, 09:55 and 10:00.
  • (From 2006 OC EMS timeline: “Up to this point, all four victims transported to the hospital were from the same family sharing rooms 125 and 127. While all these events were transpiring, no paramedics ever responded to room 121.”)
  • At 1:54 pm Yvonne Boughter placed another 9-1-1 call: “Yeah … um … I called you earlier and nobody came yet,” she told the dispatcher, according to the complaint. “My husband has passed away, my daughter looks like she passed away also. She’s mottled and cold to the touch.”
  • A paramedic ambulance crew was dispatched and entered Room 121 at 2:02 pm, the first contact with Boughter.

NO CONTACT = NO SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP

Senior U. S. District Court Judge William Nickerson granted the Town’s motion to dismiss the case.  In the opinion document, the judge cited a handful of cases in which the special relationship doctrine was evoked, most involving a law enforcement officer’s duty to render aid to a 911 caller.

In the absence of a special relationship between the defendants and the Boughter family, there is no legally recognized duty, and thus, no sustainable claim of negligence,” Nickerson’s opinion reads. “For these reasons, the Court finds the defendants’ motion to dismiss the case must be granted. …

Here, the court must conclude in the case at bar the defendants took no affirmative action, as Maryland courts have understood that term, to give rise to a special relationship. A 911 call was received and a response team was dispatched. It never reached the Boughter family. As the Maryland Court of Appeals has made clear, that is insufficient to create a special relationship.

The Maryland Coast Dispatch has details from an article posted today:  HERE

Mike “FossilMedic” Ward

Posted by on November 27, 2009 • Filed under: Command & Leadership, EMS Topics, HazMat, News, technology-communications-ems-topics • Tagged: , , ,