Pets or Pests...

[kblade 10]

Have to admit I wouldn't call the fire brigade if my cat was stuck up a tree either. I'd do everything possible myself and gather all the outside help I could! The thing is though, if there was a danger to the animal or you couldn't reach it for days I suppose you'd do what you could

 

My dog was a danger to herself when I had to call them out as she was tugging and injuring herself. Her head was firmly stuck between a house and a solid metal fence post and I'm no incridible hulk

[CottonTop 11]

Firefighters don't deal with medical emergencies here - they're dealt with by ambulances, who usually have qualified personnel and all the equipment needed to deal with heart attacks and other emergencies.

I'm not really sure why we do it the way we do. Our firefighters are all trained in EMT duties and have much of the same equipment found in ambulances. Maybe it is because the fire stations are spread out around town and the ambulance services aren't.

 

I know they have been to my house many times over the years for different family emergencies. I practically have them on speed dial! lol. But they get the patient stabilized and ready for transport usually before the ambulance arrives.

 

I'm going to have to do some research on this as you've piqued my curiosity as to why it is done this way.

[Dozy 11]

I'm not really sure why we do it the way we do. Our firefighters are all trained in EMT duties and have much of the same equipment found in ambulances. Maybe it is because the fire stations are spread out around town and the ambulance services aren't.

 

I know they have been to my house many times over the years for different family emergencies. I practically have them on speed dial! lol. But they get the patient stabilized and ready for transport usually before the ambulance arrives.

 

I'm going to have to do some research on this as you've piqued my curiosity as to why it is done this way.

 

It certainly seems a strange way to deal with emergencies - using 2 separate emergency services, rather than just one. Plus the fire engine must have a much bigger crew than the usual driver plus paramedic you get in an ambulance, so there must be an awful lot of people standing around twiddling their thumbs?

 

Don't forget to let us know what you find out - you've got me all curious now!

[kblade 10]

We (as far as I'm aware through a paramedic friend) do have two responses (depending on incident) but for a medical emergency call out a fast response car will be sent out aswell as (or in most cases before) an ambulance to assess the situation. So regularly a para car will arrive first and be followed by an ambulance simply as a car can get there quicker. The fast response will deal with the emergency first and if the casualty requires hospital assistance they will be taken by the following ambulance.

 

Until I got to know this friend I always assumed we had ambulance response only when infact two crews (from the same emergency team fair enough) are actually sent out.

 

This is excluding things like RTA's where Police and Fire Brigade will also respond.

[hels1977 10]

If you read the article properly you'll see that she didn't directly call out the fire brigade. It was through her manager's fiance - word of mouth.

 

"I had been on a week's holiday and had gone back to work, my manager's fiance is in the fire brigade and the conversation snowballed into the fire brigade coming round to the house.

[MinxyKitten 10]

Well when my hamster escaped from its cage I did what any sensible hamster owner does, and sat in the lounge all night in silence until the little thing started rustling and I quickly caught it and put it back in its cage!

[Heyesey 11]

Yes, one would hope. I can't help but think, if a call came in how much longer might it take them to reach the caller?

 

 

Quite possibly less time, since there's at least a fair chance that the emergency might be in the same direction from the fire station as is the escaped hamster.

[taxman 12]

It could have been worse I suppose, they could have been called out to Richard Gere's house.

 

Allegedly