Local heroes fight fires and save lives
The call came for an ambulance to respond to a three-car accident as soon as I arrived at the Logan City Fire Station. Photographer Amy Fuller and I exchanged a quick glance.
“Let’s go,” said Joseph Bach, a paramedic.
His partner Jerry Cole jumped in the passenger side while we rode in the back of the ambulance. It was 3:15 p.m. on Friday – a busy day, Bach said. Bach put on latex gloves while driving to the scene of the accident at 100 E. Center St.
Police and firetrucks were already there – lights ablaze – when paramedics arrived. Incident commander Randy Einzinger, a fire captain, was there to coordinate efforts between paramedics, firemen, police and tow trucks.
“I’m just keeping track of what’s going on,” Einzinger said.
He said no transport was necessary for any of the people involved in the accident because one person had already been taken to the hospital before the ambulance arrived. The driver of one of the cars had banged his shin in the accident.
Since Bach and Cole’s ambulance wasn’t needed, we headed back to the fire station.
“The way today’s been going, anything can happen,” Bach said as he closed the door.
However, only one more thing did happen Friday during our shadowing.
A call came around 4:15 p.m. when someone reported smelling smoke in a house near 200 West. Two firetrucks reported to the scene, but one was soon called back to the station. Upon arrival, no smoke was visible, but one police car was there with two very familiar faces inside. Jake Moon, one of our senior writers, and Zak Larsen, a photographer, were shadowing Logan City police officer Steve Labrum and responded to the same scene.
The smoke was caused by a furnace fan belt that started smoking, so firefighters worked on the furnace and told the owner about a better brand of furnace.
Emergency Medical Services chief Dave Harston, a 30-year veteran with the fire department, said each year the 45-member staff receives around 2,900 calls relating to EMS and approximately 350 calls requiring the firefighters. That works out to approximately 8.9 calls each day.
“There is an overload on EMS,” Harston said.
He said all staff members are full-time employees, and all live within 12 miles of Logan. All the employees, who are trained as both firefighters and as either emergency medical technicians or paramedics work, three 24-hour shifts each week.
Jeremy Robertson, the newest member of the fire department said there are three levels of emergency medical certification – basic, intermediate and paramedic.
The EMT basic certification means someone has had 120 hours of training, which is offered at Bridgerland Applied Technology College and costs between $550 and $650. Robertson said basic EMTs are certified to carry three medications and perform basic first aid.
An intermediate EMT has had at least 200 hours of training, and is certified to carry 13 medications and can start IVs. Full-time basic EMTs need to have six months of experience in order to qualify for intermediate status. Part-time basic EMTs need to work for a year.
To qualify to be a paramedic, an intermediate EMT needs 1,200 hours of training which can be acquired at Weber State University, the state fire academy at Utah Valley State College or at Dixie College. After the nine months of training is completed, a paramedic is qualified to carry 36 medications and is trained in childbirth and performing a tracheotomy.
“A paramedic is like a nurse, but more doctor stuff,” Robertson said. “[When I was trained] I helped with seven childbirths.”
Larry Tolley, an 18-year veteran, demonstrated sliding down one of the station’s two poles and said he likes his job for the variety he sees.
“You never know what’s going to happen next,” Tolley said. “You’re helping people who need help.”
At the end of a busy day, the television can be turned on after 5 p.m. After channel surfing for a bit, Robertson stopped on a program about Harlem, N.Y.’s Rescue Unit 3, one of the fire units who lost firefighters Sept. 11 during the World Trade Center collapse. The Logan City firefighters watched in quiet reverence as the program showed Harlem’s firefighters working and attending funerals. During commercials, Bach and his colleagues ruled out Papa John’s, Papa Murphy’s, Papa Kelsey’s, Taco Bell and Taco Time in favor of dinner from Beto’s.
“If you want to sleep over, we can arrange it,” Robertson said to me. “I’m sure as long as you’re here we won’t get any more calls.”