Emergency Medical Services
Medical ResponseEvery career firefighter and officer is licensed as an EMT or Paramedic, responding alongside the township's contracted ambulance provider on the most serious calls.
About the Emergency Medical Services
The Chesterfield Township Fire Department provides a non-transporting basic life support response alongside the township's contracted EMS provider. The Dispatch Center screens medical requests through Emergency Medical Dispatch protocols, sending fire department units to the most demanding and highest-consequence incidents.
All career firefighters and officers are licensed through the State of Michigan as either an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) or a Paramedic, and part-time personnel who hold one of those licenses supplement the full-time crews. Crews respond from both stations, cross-manning any of the department's basic life support licensed apparatus.
For 90 percent of emergency medical requests, the department's benchmark is the arrival of the first unit, staffed with at least two firefighters including one licensed EMT, within 10 minutes and 30 seconds of the call being created.
Responsibilities
- Respond to the most serious medical calls alongside the contracted ambulance provider
- Maintain State of Michigan EMT or Paramedic licensure across all career staff
- Cross-man basic life support licensed apparatus from two stations
- Staff Rescue Task Force teams with a police escort at active shooter events
- Train for mass casualty triage, treatment and transport
Rescue Task Force
The Rescue Task Force (RTF) is made up of firefighters with EMS licenses who work as an integrated response with law enforcement at incidents where wounded people with possibly life-threatening injuries are still in a hostile environment, such as an active shooter event. Officers escort fire and EMS personnel to the wounded, who are treated and then carried to waiting ambulances for transport to the hospital.
Mass Casualty Incidents
Firefighters also train for mass casualty incidents such as multi-vehicle crashes and train derailments: triaging, treating and transporting large numbers of victims, and evacuating residents from hazardous areas.
Rescue 2 carries mass oxygen manifold systems that can give oxygen to five patients at once from two large cylinders, and a longer-term unit with 200 feet of hose supplies up to eight patients, with adult and child masks and nebulizers. They are used after smoke inhalation, chemical exposure, carbon monoxide poisoning or drownings involving several people.
The LUCAS Device
Crews carry a LUCAS mechanical chest compression device, which delivers high-quality compressions at a fixed depth and rate and keeps going during transport, freeing rescuers' hands for airway care and other lifesaving measures.
Facts and Figures
| Task | Low Risk | Medium Risk | High Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Incident Command | 1 | 3 | |
| Patient Care | 2 | 5 | |
| Rescue Task Force | 8-10 | ||
| Effective Response Force | 2 | 6 | 11-13 |
| Measure | Benchmark | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Call creation to dispatch | 6:12 | 5:04 | 5:17 | |
| Turnout (dispatch to en route) | 1:30 | 2:20 | 2:18 | 2:09 |
| Travel (en route to on scene) | 7:30 | 5:43 | 6:01 | 5:52 |
| Effective Response Force | 11:00 | 12:08 | 13:13 | 11:57 |