ASU Student Emergency Medical Services: Difference between revisions

The Phoenix Fire Department (PFD), is the primary agency responsible for fire suppression and emergency medical services within the city of Phoenix, Arizona, USA. The department services an area of about 517 square miles, home to 1,552,259 people^[1][2]. PFD also participates in mutual aid for the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, home to 4,179,427 people. The department operates off of a budget of 220 million USD.

The typical PFD engine crew consists of two firefighters, an engineer, and a captain. The captain is the company officer, and takes command of scenes where is unit is the only one present.

The PFD has nine battalion chief vehicles, and several battalion chiefs to staff those vehicles. Battalion chiefs are typically sent out on larger scale calls, especially calls with several different crews or with interagency crews. Battalion chiefs take command of such incidents, and provide a unified source of scene control.

The Fire Chief is the highest ranking officer in the PFD, and is responsible for the overall operation of the department. PFD's first chief was Frank Czarnowski, who took the title in 1888. The current Fire Chief is Bob Khan.

The PFD has two rehabilitation (rehab) units, housed in Station 3 and Station 30. These units are essentially converted recreational vehicles. Inside, there is an air conditioned compartment where firefighters can cool off and rehydrate. Attached to the back of the units are fittings to rapidly refill SCBA bottles. The main purpose of the rehab units is to prepare fire crews to return to an incident more quickly than what was previously possible.

The PFD has thirteen ladder tender units, which have all the same equipment as a ladder truck but without the vehicle-mounted aerial ladder. Ladder tenders are smaller, more maneuverable, and consume less gasoline than their full-sized counterparts. Ladder tenders are only housed in stations that also have a ladder truck, and the same crew staffs both units. The crew will decide which vehicle to bring to an incident based on the type of incident.

Phoenix is located in an arid desert region, and still contains large areas of undeveloped desert areas. These patches of land typically have very dry brush growth, which creates an especially flammable environment. Their remoteness from paved roads can make fire suppression using traditional vehicles difficult or impossible, so brush trucks were implemented. These vehicles are usually based off of pickup truck chassis, and they all have four wheel drive capabilities. Brush trucks have hose and limited water supplies, allowing them to act as first responders to brush fires.

The Phoenix Fire Department is the primary source of pre-hospital emergency medical care to the residents of the City of Phoenix. All Phoenix firefighters are EMT-Basics, and many are EMT-Paramedics. In addition to fire apparatus, the PFD has 36 ambulances to provide patient transportation. These ambulances are supplemented by mutual aid from several private ambulance companies in the Phoenix area. When a medical incident occurs, the closest unit (engine, ladder truck, ambulance, or any other type of apparatus) will be dispatched. If the closest unit is BLS, and the incident requires ALS attention, an ALS unit will also be dispatched to assist the first unit. If the closest unit (and the ALS unit, if applicable) is not an ambulance, and the incident will likely require patient transportation, an ambulance will often by dispatched as well.

The PFD has three Crisis Response (CR) units, housed in Station 16, Station 41, and Station 44. These units, as their name implies, are called to intervene in crises as deemed necessary by fire or police personnel. The vans are staffed primarily by volunteers, with some part-time staff. A CR crew consists of one behavioral health specialist and one emergency medical technician or two behavioral health specialists. CR units will respond to incidents such as cardiac arrests, homicides, suicides, house fires, displaced persons, sexual assault, evacuations, and any other call in which a CR team's unique services are required.