Orland Fire Protection District Touts Fire Based EMS Response
Fire District Personnel Take Message to Community

CONTACT:  Acting Chief Bryant Krizik
                  708-349-0074
EFFECTIVE: 07/2007

 

ORLAND PARK, ILLINOIS --- The Orland Fire Protection District is taking its Fire Based Response Plan to the communities it serves. Fire and emergency medical service personnel are addressing civic and community groups to explain the life saving advantages of the district’s response plan that went into effect in October, 2006.

            With the new system, when an emergency call is received --- regardless of its nature --- an EMS equipped fire truck or engine responds. The district has adopted the mantra, “the best for the most,” meaning the best-trained personnel and equipment being available to serve the most people.

            “The Orland Fire Protection District is trying to reach a national benchmark to get personnel to a call within five minutes,” explained Orland Fire Protection District Board President Patrick Maher.

            “Each of these vehicles has advanced life support equipment and emergency medical supplies and are staffed by paramedics,” he added.

            Deputy Fire Chief Bryant Krizik added, “Our ambulances also carry state-of-the-art twelve lead EKG cardiac monitors that further increase the level of service provided by our emergency medical service personnel.”

            The Orland Fire Protection District responds to an average of 8500 calls per year, with more than 60 percent being medical responses. Each day, there is a minimum of ten staffed dedicated companies in Orland Park, Orland Hills and unincorporated Orland Township, staffed by a minimum of 26 firefighter/paramedics.

            “In order to provide the best level of patient care, we respond to every emergency medical call with a minimum of five personnel. Orland’s firefighter/paramedics are additionally certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) and Pediatric Education for Pre-hospital Professionals (PEPP),” Krizik explained. 

             Orland Fire Battalion Chief Raymond Kay oversees the district's Emergency Medical Services Program. Stressing the district's quest to meet the national benchmark for response times, Kay explained, "When a person's heart stops or if someone stops breathing, it is imperative that life saving care arrive within four to six minutes."

            "This is one of the key elements of the district's new means of deployment. Getting a crew to the scene as quickly as possible saves lives. That's the bottom line," Kay added.

            "Each first responding vehicle is equipped with advanced life support equipment and are paramedic staffed, in addition to having firefighting and rescue capabilities," Kay noted.

            Lieutenant Randy Reeder, who served on the district’s deployment task force, explained, “The engines and trucks are strategically located at the stations throughout the district to be able to reach anywhere in their stills in less time.”

            “When the engine or truck arrives, the paramedics assess and stabilize the patient. When the ambulance arrives within the next few minutes, that crew transports to the hospital and the truck or engine is free to take other calls,” Reeder explained.           

            Reeder added, “We now have a minimum of ten dedicated Advanced Life Support Companies with six of them being ‘primary provider’ fire engines or trucks that are truly the first line of defense, regardless of the nature of the call.”

            “If it’s a fire, rescue or emergency medical service response, Orland Fire has now set the foundation for its future and have performance benchmarks to proactively add more companies as funds become available or as the level of service demands dictate,” Maher said.

            Prior to Orland Fire’s change in deployment last year, the stations were empty if the ambulance was out on a call.

            “Just a few years ago, our crew from Station #3 delivered a baby on the apron of the driveway at Station #6,” Reeder recalled, “Our crew was sent over because the ambulance at Station #6 was transporting to the hospital for another call, and thus the entire station and still was unprotected.  By the time we arrived, the baby had already been born and was on the floorboard of the car – thankfully healthy.”  Reeder added, “Regrettably, this was not an isolated incident.  The trend of back to back emergency responses is now the norm, not the exception.” 

            “Seventy percent of the time, when one call comes in, a second will soon follow,” Krizik noted. “With the new deployment system, we dispatch the closest vehicle to the address calling for help, being able to do the same with the subsequent call,” he explained, adding that each of the fire district’s vehicles is GPS equipped (Global Positioning System) that shows which vehicle is closest to where the help is needed.

            “We upgraded our dispatching software from a static response to Dynamic Dispatch,” Krizik explained. “This way we’re proactive with how we strategically dispatch responses to calls for help,” he added.

            “This correlates with the National Fire Protection Association's National Standard 1710 that sets performance benchmarks and functional criteria for not just fire responses, but rescue and EMS calls as well. This is how most of the larger suburban departments are running now,” Reeder said. 

             National Fire Protection Association Standard 1710 requires a minimum of four personnel on the scene of an EMS call.

            “In addition to the City of Chicago, other dedicated fire companies operate in Oak Lawn, Downers Grove, Naperville, Lisle-Woodridge, Joliet, Rockford and a number of other areas,” Krizik said.

            “A distinct advantage that Orland Fire has is that we provide our fire based emergency medical service as Advanced Life Support (ALS) staffed by paramedics. Other agencies oftentimes respond with only Basic Life Support with as few as two personnel,” Reeder explained.

            "There are significant differences between Basic Life Support and Advanced Life Support," Kay explained. "Orland Fire District companies respond with Advanced Life Support ,"Kay said.             

            “Orland Fire is one of the few agencies that meets this level of service,” Krizik said. “Our protocol now calls for five personnel, which illustrates our ‘best for the most’ mission and mandate,” he added.

            Krizik added, “We have dedicated companies assigned to specific vehicles. This has completely changed how the Orland Fire District responds.”

            “Before, it was like musical chairs when a jump crew would have to wait to find out the nature of the call before deciding which vehicle to take. That reactive type of response led to confusion, staffing issues, apparatus inconsistencies and most importantly response delays. Now, we get in our assigned vehicle and we’re on our way,” Reeder said.

            “Response times are down. We've had numerous back to back calls and the new deployment method makes specific stations available and able to respond to a lot more calls within their stills,” Reeder explained.

            “During the first week, three lives were saved because of the new system. A call came in for cardiac and respiratory arrest and we sent the closest company, which arrived with a two to three minute response time,” Krizik said.

            “This is the best deployment strategy,” Maher echoed. “We’re sending ‘the best for the most,’ meaning the best trained and equipped personnel being able to help the most people.”

            Fire district personnel are available to address local organizations, civic groups, homeowners' associations, etc. For more information, call Deputy Chief Krizik at 349-0074.

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	OFPD FIRE The Orland Fire Protection District implemented its Fire Based EMS Response in October, 2006. When an emergency call is received, regardless of its nature, the closest EMS equipped and paramedic staffed fire engine responds. Orland Fire is trying to reach a national benchmark to get personnel to a call within five minutes.
	OFPD CAR CRASH The Orland Fire Protection District’s Fire Based EMS Response brings the closest paramedic-staffed truck or engine to the emergency scene to begin emergency medical service.  When the ambulance arrives within the next few minutes, that crew transports to the hospital and the truck or engine is free to take other calls. Orland Fire has adopted the mantra, “the best for the most,” in its quest to deliver the closest personnel to a scene in the least amount of time.
	OFPD CAR CRASH #2 Since the Orland Fire Protection District implemented its Fire Based EMS Response in October, 2006, response times are down. This means of deployment, also used by other agencies throughout the region, brings the closest fire truck or engine to the scene, enabling paramedics to begin emergency medical service before the ambulance arrives to transport the patients to the hospital, freeing the responding truck or engine to answer subsequent calls.