EMS Fire Scene Rehab

[RWC130 594]

On 12-6-04 at our Multiple Alarm Fire the members of Peekskill VAC and Cortlandt VAC not only stood by the fire scene with EMS crews but provided ALL the Firefighters with Water, Coffee, (Milk & Sugar) and Oreos. Ahhhh as WAS967 said "Gotta love them Oreos"

Obviously this money was dished out by EMS and I gotta say it was a great thing and very much appreciated by all of the Firefighters.

I don't know of many VAC's that will provide refreshments for Firefighters at Stand-By's. Actually it's not part of EMS's job but they went the extra mile.

Again, PEEKSKILL VAC THANK YOU!

How many Westchester VAC's do something like this?

[WAS967 97]

On 12-6-04 at our Multiple Alarm Fire the members of Peekskill VAC and Cortlandt VAC not only stood by the fire scene with EMS crews but provided ALL the Firefighters with Water, Coffee, (Milk & Sugar) and Oreos. Ahhhh as WAS967 said "Gotta love them Oreos" 

Obviously this money was dished out by EMS and I gotta say it was a great thing and very much appreciated by all of the Firefighters. 

I don't know of many VAC's that will provide refreshments for Firefighters at Stand-By's. Actually it's not part of EMS's job but they went the extra mile. 

Again, PEEKSKILL VAC THANK YOU! 

How many Westchester VAC's do something like this?

Yeah. The oreos were on sale so I grabbed a few batches. I firgured they would go quick but I knew Salvation Army was on the way so I just grabbed something to tide people over. Mitch said I should give someone the reciept, but you know what, people were out there busting thier butts to fight that thing, it was the least I could do to contribute. After all, nobody got hurt so my job was easy. I was sitting there on the scene to thinking about rehab. Now most people seem to only think of rehab in the summer time, with the heat and all. But it was cold out there that night, and rainy. I'm glad we had at least something warm for people to drink (and lord knows the caffeine probably helped). I would love to see some kind of apparatus that would allow us to fire up a big pot of water on scene (perhaps a large camping gas fired something or other). For those who don't drink coffee (myself included, but I made an exception) hot water for tea, hot cocoa, maybe even some cup a noodles would have been good. But we made due with what we had, and it seemed to work for the most part. Heck, CCVAC, while on standby, had 5 or 6 medium sized coffee pots going to fill up just one of those coffee thermoses. God bless 'em. And let me just send my complements to the Salvation Army again. They make a mean chicken noodle soup. :chew:

[COMMANDCHIEF 4]

REHAB at an incident is KEY to the operation. It is an excellent idea to have EMS employed in this capacity. I don't know if I would really have them working on providing food. But fluids would fall well within the scope.

I would imagine it would be effective management to have excess members (those that are not on the "Duty crew") to staff the rehab area, so as to allow the riding crews to remain on stand by for emergency cases.

Am I wrong?

[WAS967 97]

Well, during the height of the fire I think there were four fully staffed rigs at our disposal. PCVAC had all three of thiers manned and CCVAC was standing by in PCVAC headquarters. The biggest problem with ANY rehab is stubborn firefighters. No offense guys, but we're guys. We don't want to sit down and take a break no matter what the weather. God forbid I should try to smack and oxygen mask on someone. Maybe we're afraid we'll look weak, who knows. I know in some of the more organized rehab setups, there are actual rotations specified with mandatory down time dicatated by the CHIEF. Without an order from a department head, it's not like we can go around and say, You....you look tired...sit down and grab some water. In a recent JEMS there were featured some setups that include a huge RV setup for firefighter rehab. Each (wo)man has a medical card that is used to track vitals. The medical director has limits setup as to min/max B/P and HR a person can have during operations. If you spike a high BP or HR, you sit out, no questions. WE had coffee for the guys, which is okay but not great. What does caffiene make you do? Urinate. Little good that does in keeping a person hydrated. I like the sport drink and quaker oats bar/ nutra-grain bar combo. You get crabs, hydration, and decent nutritional support. Yes, rehab is important, but as with many things, we have miles to go before we sleep.

[Remember585 815]

Cortlandt VAC has various fireground rehab supplies. Many of which were setup thanks to our Captain to be. We have an oxygen setup to provide for 4 patients at one time. We also have jugs for water and/or coffee. We have an ice machine that we can put the ice into bags and bring to the scene as well. We also have several wool blankets available for colder weather.

In Croton, we have an MCI setup in R18, which has many items available for rehab as well. We carry a total of 10 Oxygen units between our units,and we carry bottled water on almost every rig. Of course, these things grow legs and walk from time to time. Our Chiefs are in the process of creating and implementing a rehab SOG.

Fireground rehab is vital - regardless of the weather. The IC should have someone delegated to this duty at all scenes of longer duration. This is a good job for those Deputy Chiefs if you have them, or for EMS.

[WAS967 97]

Many of which were setup thanks to our Captain to be.

Who was elected captain of CCVAC for next year?

[Remember585 815]

Dorrie Pappas.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Your right WAS ego is a problem. Trust me if I could have, I would have loved to come into one of the buses until I felt my toes were back again. I could've used more rehab proctoring a station for the BFFT's FF1 national certification exam.

On a side note, it should be EMS's job, and departments should work with them to get it established, throw some equipment their way, water coolers aren't that expensive and some powdered gatorade. Also SOG's stating who when where and how long rehab will go should be enforced. Heart attacks are our leading cause of death, rehab helps with that. Also we don't know how many deaths are attributed to poor decision making due to fatique and dehydration.

[RWC130 594]

I could've used more rehab proctoring a station for the BFFT's FF1 national certification exam.

OK OK ALS, You ARE God! Care to give anymore self credits?

I love ya bro, I just HAD too! lol =D>

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Self credit...lol :-k . I don't need self credit. But Tues. was a very long day as I'm sure most can sympathize.

Also congrats to Dory! She is a great leader and EMT as well, I wish her the best of luck and prosperity in her tenure.

[Guest WCDES636]

Just so you all know. The county will provide a Bee Line Bus for rehab at any time day or night.

All you have to do is call 60 Control and they will make it happen.

[fitzjr11 17]

Rehab needs to be a part of the fire operations, we work it with our accountability system. When we drill rehab and accountability is there, so the "stubborn" fire fighters are use to it, and it is as routine as anything else at a fire.

[ems-buff 81]

On 12-6-04 at our Multiple Alarm Fire the members of Peekskill VAC and Cortlandt VAC not only stood by the fire scene with EMS crews but provided ALL the Firefighters with Water, Coffee, (Milk & Sugar) and Oreos. Ahhhh as WAS967 said "Gotta love them Oreos"

Obviously this money was dished out by EMS and I gotta say it was a great thing and very much appreciated by all of the Firefighters.

I don't know of many VAC's that will provide refreshments for Firefighters at Stand-By's. Actually it's not part of EMS's job but they went the extra mile.

Again, PEEKSKILL VAC THANK YOU!

How many Westchester VAC's do something like this?

In regards to that " How many Westchester VAC's do something like this?"

In the summer of 03 mamaroneck village fd respond to a call of smoke and sure enough it was a 10-75 mamaroneck ems 68A1 and 68B1 responed and we they for a long time some we bought them coffee tea and doughnuts so the point i'm trying to make is vac's sometimes think alike and we go the extra mile.

[fitzjr11 17]

We are fortunate that our ambulance and fire are together, so we drill and respond to calls together. We also follow the same SOG's, for your FD's and Ambulance only people many you need to sit down together and find out what it needed to support eachother at calls so Rehab can be done at the beginning of the call. Maybe have ambulance dispatched at the same time, and have that ambulance bring necessary items for Rehab.

[mstrang1 213]

Hey WAS967. I don't wanna get CRABS, but I dont mind hydration and decent nutritional support!

On a more serious note, many departments implement a "2 bottle" rule, in which after 2 SCBA bottles you automatically go for rehab for 20 minutes or so. In cases where you are doing exterior/defensive work where no SCBA is worn, then it should be changed to 20mins "in"/ 20 minutes rehab in hotter climates. The times are an estimate.

If anyone looks at the rattlesnake FD website that I posted, all three of there identical engines have a coffee pot/ microwave/fridge/ hot water setup witha fully stocked inventory of soup, gatorade, coffee, etc.