Fire department recruits for new EMT division

By DAN KEGLEY/Staff

Chilhowie Fire Department is recruiting Emergency Medical Technicians with an eye toward forming an EMT division within the department.
Those with EMT certification are welcome, and CFD Deputy Chief Robert Taylor said Thursday training will be available this winter for those who would like to earn their certificate.
“We’ll train them from the ground up,” Taylor said in explaining that new recruits need no previous experience or training.
EMTB, for basic, classes will run at the fire department two evenings a week, to be selected by the class members, from Jan. 18 through mid-April and from 6 to 10 p.m.
The training over the winter will involve 110 hours of classroom time, and 10 hours of practical time in an ambulance or the emergency room.
The only cost will be for the book, $65, and test, $25. The test will be offered either in Wytheville, Abingdon or Bristol, he said. “All the classes will be taught here. We won’t have to go anywhere.”
“We’re trying to draw people out of the community,” Taylor said. “We’re looking at an EMT division.”
Ordinarily, CFD members cross-train, with firefighters adding medical skills to their repertoire. An EMT division will not mean its members can’t learn and certify in firefighting skills.
What it will mean for the department is less time spent assigning responding CFD members to tasks as critical minutes pass after an alarm sounds, according to Taylor. “We won’t have to assign firefighters to stay clean on the fireground in case they have to transport.”
The division would beef up the availability of responders for the department whose calls are mostly medical in nature. It would also increase the availability of care for their own firefighters.
“Citizens are our biggest concern, but we have to have an ambulance for our guys in case something happens,” he said.
The division is in part a response to the shape of the department’s call load.
“Ninety percent of what we do is EMS,” or emergency medical services, Taylor said. “Last year, we ran 927 or 928 calls, and 90-some percent were EMS calls.”
Responding to those calls can be challenging for the department, and for most volunteer departments, at night and on weekends, Taylor said.
Some people have said they would like to serve, but “they do not want to do the fire side,” he said.
Some believe they are too squeamish to perform advanced first-response medical care, but Taylor said the training will move most would-be EMTs beyond that reaction.
“You may not be able to handle every situation. But there is something you can do,” Taylor said.
Like driving an ambulance. EMTs can take EVOC, or Emergency Vehicle Operations Course, and drive as others work in the back with patients.
Taylor said the department had received indications of interest on the training and the new division from two people, but they are outside the immediate area. Chilhowie residents would get preference, but the department will open up the class to others if needed. He said the department will take all the students it can get, and has classroom space for 15 to 18.
The main requirement of applicants is that they have the drive and dedication required to answer calls at all hours, any day. “You really got to have a passion to do this. You have to be a compassionate person and care about the community,” Taylor said.
There is another side of this volunteering opportunity that Taylor suggested while hoping most won’t take advantage of it. Volunteering as a trained EMT or firefighter can lead to a paid career.
“We have had seven out of this department go on to become career firefighters,” he said. CFD supports two paid positions. Larger departments like Bristol’s, can hire more firefighters and medics, and private ambulance companies, have more EMT opportunities.
“Just by having that basic training opens up so many doors,” Taylor said.
He said registered nurses are moving to the EMT field so they can fly with services like WINGS. “Transferring through that bridge program is a great opportunity,” he said.
But Taylor doesn’t want CFD’s training and experience to become only a stepping stone, but that recruits will work for the love of service to their community.
Applicants for the training must pass a criminal history check – “no felons,” Taylor said. Once they are in the department, members’ driving transcripts are checked for violations.
For more information, contact Taylor at 646-3131.

dkegley@wythenews.com