You CAN Die On an EMS Call

A recent letter to the editor of Firehouse® Magazine about one my columns criticized me for attempting to push the issue of why, when we test for company officers, we seldom use an EMS situation in the assessment center scenario. The reader went onto say that we should be testing future fire officers on fire scenarios, since this is where our people die, not on EMS calls (see page 20). In reality, the writer of the letter missed my point, since I was not dismissing fireground scenarios in assessment centers for future fire officers, but only suggesting that EMS/rescue scenes should also be included because this accounts for the majority of work done by most fire departments.

I was a little taken aback by the comment that we lose people only on fireground scenes. In my response, I wrote that responders can also die on EMS calls and recommended that he talk to any of the family members of the 29 people who were killed in 2005 while involved in EMS operations (the 2006 statistics are not available yet).

Which leads me to the efforts of Billy Goldfeder, a Firehouse® contributing editor who writes the immensely popular Close Calls column involving firefighters and operates the website Firefighterclosecalls.com. Last year, Billy approached the leadership of the EMS Section of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) about a new initiative regarding EMS safety. That new idea centered on operating a website similar to firefighterclosecalls.com, founded by Billy and his business partner, Gordon Graham, a retired police commander, attorney and nationally known public safety risk-management expert, but would focus on close calls involving EMS. It seemed like a natural extension of his efforts to focus the profession on safety issues, but instead of solely educating firefighters on lessons learned from near-miss events and other situations that can harm us regarding fire, Billy chose to expand his hard work by looking at EMS. After all, whether you are killed by a falling wall or while standing on a highway tending to an accident victim, it is still recorded as a line-of-duty death.

The leadership of the EMS Section for the IAFC saw that value of partnering with Billy and launched a website called EMSclosecalls.com. This new website follows the same premise as firefighterclosecalls.com and provides information that those in the profession can use to protect not only firefighters performing some EMS function, but non-firefighters doing EMS work from other types of EMS services like private ambulances, volunteer rescue squads, third-service operations, helicopter services and hospital-based ambulance services.

In order to manage and administrate the website, members of the EMS Section of the IAFC who are also chief officers from mostly fire departments volunteered to be the administrators for various sections of the website. One section is administered by Chris Shimer, the deputy chief of EMS and training for Howard County Fire and Rescue in Maryland and posts recent newspaper articles of EMS-related close calls. Chris keeps the website timely by searching the web and finding those stories that involve a firefighter, paramedic or EMT having a close call event or being injured or, in some cases, unfortunately getting killed.

The website has been up and running for about four months now and as I scan it periodically, I have noticed something that I never knew or realized. There are more EMS close calls than I ever imagined - and these are only the ones that hit the newspapers or the web that have something significant tied to it. The EMS close calls that Chris is posting cover the entire gamut - ambulance accidents, helicopter crashes, paramedics and EMTs being assaulted, kidnapped or shot, plus much more. Incidents that involve back injuries, smashed hands, accidental needlesticks and other less-sensational events never make the newspapers, thus they are not posted, but we can assume those things are happening daily also.

Here are some recent headlines from EMSClosecalls.com: "Firefighter Struck By Vehicle While Rendering Aid"; "EMT Technician Shot While on the Job"; "New Year's Gunfire Causes Close Call for New Orleans Medics"; "EMT Trainee Struck, Killed, at Accident Scene"; "Man Could Face Life in Prison if Convicted of Kidnapping EMS Techs"; and "Ambulance Crash Injures Six."

As I pondered this newfound knowledge that a lot of people doing EMS operations are experiencing more close calls than I ever imagined, I began to wonder what we as a profession can do to decrease these events. In recent years, there has been significant awareness toward fire-related injuries and deaths through the efforts of such programs as stand-down days and the near-miss reporting. And we should be focusing a great deal of attention on firefighter deaths. This is important. But firefighters can also die on EMS calls.

You can already report a non-fire event on firefighternearmiss.com, but my search of the available reports did not produce many EMS-related events. Further, the "Fire Fighter Safety Stand Down" days that have become common over the past several years also need to emphasize EMS events. I believe the perception is that firefighternearmiss.com is mainly for events that surround a fire incident, so maybe we need to start reporting more near-miss events regarding EMS on firefighternearmiss.com.

I also believe the perception is that "Fire Fighter Safety Stand Down" days are more fire related and do not involve EMS. Maybe it is time to start emphasizing EMS and rescue activities on the "Stand Down" day each year. This only makes sense and is a natural extension of these two important initiatives to reduce injuries and deaths among firefighters.

I strongly encourage you to not only visit firefighterclosecalls.com, but visit EMSclosecalls.com and learn valuable lessons on what injures and kills us on EMS-related operations. If you have material to share with the fire and EMS community, please feel free to upload the material to one of the site administrators. The website is always looking for standard operating procedures (SOPs), personal stories, information on vehicle safety, EMS training and radio communications. Additionally, there is an area related to pandemic flu that is administered by Dr. Jim Augustine of the Atlanta Fire Department.

Again, we closed 2006 with 106 firefighter deaths, although we are focusing more on safety and we are running fewer fire calls. The numbers of EMS-related deaths for 2006 has yet to be reported. But, if it is like previous years, it will be somewhere in the high 20s or low 30s. Each of these deaths is one too many. Please be safe!