A Day in the Life of LACoFD Firefighter-Paramedics, Part 1
Sunday, April 12, 2009 - Tony Morris, Vertical Online
At Vertical, we tend to focus on the people in the cockpit. But what about the people in the back? In this two-part series, contributor Tony Morris takes a look at the important work being done by the Los Angeles County Fire Department's air operations firefighter-paramedics.
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The triage area of the Metrolink train crash in Chatsworth was set up in a nearby grass area just a few feet from the tracks. Photo by Elroma David. |
To facilitate these efforts, a landing zone was created for the LAFD and LACoFD aircraft dispatched to the scene of what became known as the “Heather Lee” incident. In the end, LACoFD and LAFD helicopters transported a total of 41 victims (many severely injured) to outlying trauma hospitals. According to Anthony Marrone, chief of LACoFD air operations, five distant regional trauma centers were accessed by responding helicopter crews because the two closest trauma centers were already operating at maximum capacity.
Undoubtedly, these helicopters, and the crews that staffed them, saved many lives that day.
As much as this was a difficult incident that tested the skills and preparedness of the LACoFD firefighter-paramedics, saving lives is pretty much what they do, or prepare to do, each and every day.
Based out of Barton Heliport, adjacent to Whiteman Airport in Pacoima, Calif., LACoFD air operations section maintains a staff of six firefighter-paramedics on each duty shift. On any given day, each shift can deal with such medical and transport emergencies as rescuing an injured scuba diver off Catalina Island, transporting a critically injured automobile accident victim from the area's traffic-clogged highways, hoisting a skier with a broken leg from a snow-covered slope, or lifting a trapped hiker off a steep cliff. LACoFD air operations firefighter-paramedics are trained for virtually any emergency situation.
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The aftermath of the Metrolink train collision in Chatsworth, Calif., a disaster that demanded the utmost of agencies such as the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Photo by Elroma David. |
Each day, three multi-mission helicopters are deployed throughout the 4,000-square-mile expanse of Los Angeles County, meeting the emergency needs of its 10.5-million residents. One air squad covers the eastern part of the county at Brackett Field Airport in La Verne. The second is in the north at Fire Station 129 in Lancaster. The third is in the west at Camp 8 in the hills above Malibu during the day and returns to the centrally located Barton Heliport at the night.
During the high fire-danger months of July through January, each year, an additional two helicopters are staffed during daylight hours. One is a Firehawk, which is stationed at Camp 9 high in the mountains north of Barton Heliport. It is tasked as a fire ship and has a 12-person wildland fire fighting hand crew. The second is a Bell 412 command and control helicopter that is assigned as the helicopter co-ordinator platform. It has a wildland-qualified chief officer and pilot and is based out of Barton Heliport. Both of these additional aircraft respond automatically on all reported brush fires anywhere in the county.
Said Capt. Eric Fetherston, one of the three air captains assigned to Barton Heliport, “We operate 24/7, just like a fire station does, with an A, B and C shift, each starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 8 a.m. the following day.”
In addition to the normal duties of an LACoFD firefighter-paramedic, air operations personnel are also trained and equipped for crew haul, swift-water and ocean rescue, hoist rescue and even horse rescue. According to Fetherston, when ground personnel request a medical helicopter to transport a critically ill or injured patient, “they also request an engine company to set up and become a landing zone co-ordinator, which is responsible for scene safety. Sometimes they will use a football field or park, or even an intersection as the helicopter landing zone.”
During a typical mission, a firefighter-paramedic that has been assigned and trained as a crew chief sits in the left front seat and operates the global positioning system and internal communications system. He would also handle required radio transmissions with the dispatch center, and can talk to nurses and doctors at base station hospitals by using a special hospital frequency or the Los Angeles County Medical Alert Center radio channel, which is used for handling all multi-casualty incidents.
After getting a rescue/emergency call and landing at scene, the air squad crew meets with ground unit paramedics for the transfer of care. Typically, an ambulance crew, together with air operations firefighter-paramedics, loads the patient into the helicopter and clears the landing zone. The helicopter then takes off for a trauma or specialty care center. Said Fetherston, “We can accomplish most things that need to be done medically while enroute.” He added, “Our goal is to get the patient to the hospital within the golden hour, which is 60 minutes from the time they are injured to the time the patient arrives in the operating room.”
That golden-hour time limit is why helicopters are so critical in the Los Angeles area, as it expedites patient care and decreases the time of arrival to the region's trauma centers.
In many ways, being a firefighter-paramedic is not a job you can adapt to. Said Dan Fournier, who began his career as a firefighter-paramedic almost 20 years ago: “This job chooses the man. It takes a lot of fortitude to hang from a three-sixteenths-inch diameter cable. Either you are good at it or you are not. We are like the cavalry for the fire department. It is a team effort, all on an equal basis… When the bell goes off, you are all on the same page.”
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On each duty shift, the Los Angeles County Fire Department maintains a staff of six firefighter- paramedics who are trained for virtually any emergency situation. Dave Lichten Photo. |
With the wind, cold and altitude, the danger was escalating. Said Fournier: “The Hawk was having trouble. Pilot Brian Novak [in the Bell 412] watched our six o'clock and I slid down to the man on the tree, got to him and connected my pick-up strap. These guys had all their stuff [still with them] and I told them to get rid of it — I don't have all day! Then the rigging was set to allow the other man to traverse to me. ‘Get me the hell out of here!' I came off the ground 120 to 160 feet and cleared the treetops. It was really cold and I was suffering from exposure [by the end of the rescue].”
To do the job they do, with confidence, the LACoFD air operations pilots and firefighter paramedics rely on the section's aircraft mechanics, comprised of chief of maintenance Dave Eastham; senior mechanics Jim Ring, Jose Murillo and Dennis Blumenthal; and 11 helicopter mechanics. Said Fournier, “They are the unsung heroes, we put trust in them and our equipment, they are top-notch mechanics.”
That reliance on the LACoFD maintenance staff is what allowed firefighter-paramedic Raphael Ortiz, who started with LACoFD in 1983, to perform one of his most challenging missions without a second thought as to the reliability of his ship. The mission began when a vehicle went into an aqueduct off Pearblossom Highway in the Antelope Valley. Said Ortiz: “Firefighter-paramedics improvised equipment to pull the vehicle out of the aqueduct and we treated two victims in full arrest and two in respiratory arrest. Each of the patients had a firefighter-paramedic working on them. They were in critical condition and we adapted to the extreme situation by transporting all four victims in one Firehawk. It was one very crowded aircraft.”
Ortiz also remembers searching for a downed aircraft when a cell phone call was received from the pilot. For that, air operations requested assistance from the United States Coast Guard, who used its directional locating equipment to find the aircraft. The pilot, with two severely fractured ankles, was rescued soon after.
That incident was also another example of the teamwork that exists between parapublic operators in the region. Currently, LACoFD co-operates with three other agencies when it comes to emergency medical service (EMS) transports and search and rescues. In Los Angeles County, 75 percent of EMS transports are handled by LACoFD firefighter-paramedics. The remaining 25 percent is spread between the LAFD, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and Mercy Air.
To be continued…
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