By Bill Carey
EMS1 Staff
FORT WORTH, Texas — The Fort Worth Fire Department recently saw the benefit of placing paramedics in remote firehouse locations to improve the EMS response to areas seeing a population increase.
Three days after starting the program, the fire department put it into use, helping save a woman’s life. On Monday, firefighters responded to a call for a smoke investigation in far north Fort Worth.
According to a press release from the department firefighters from Engine 37 immediately saw that they had a burn patient and called for both MedStar and a helicopter because of the severity of the injuries. While firefighters cleared an area for the helicopter to arrive, a paramedic was able to quickly provide advanced life support care to the patient.
The Fire Station Paramedic Program was created to reduce response times to EMS calls in the outskirts of the city, NBC DFW reported.
“With a city that is ever-growing as quickly as Fort Worth is, we have some issues with some of these new areas and getting out there in the time allotted that we want to make,” Fort Worth Fire Department spokesperson Craig Trojacek said.
The program was launched a week ago and places one paramedic on each shift at seven firehouses located on the outskirts of the city.
“What this program does is essentially brings a credentialed paramedic to every doorstep throughout the city,” Trojacek said.