Imagine a person is trapped inside a car following a car accident.
Firefighters and paramedics are working at lightning speed to extricate the person from the car to perform life-saving medical care.
This is a common occurrence for both fireys and paramedics, but the split-second decisions that need to be made in these fraught situations can make it hard for the two professions to communicate as well as they could.
Werribee CFA rescue crew members and Ambulance Victoria paramedics closed the gap a little last Thursday through a joint training session at the Werribee fire station, centred around road accident rescues.
Firefighters and paramedics worked together in a scenario-based session to cut open a car involved in an accident and administer medical treatment.
Werribee Fire Brigade captain Michael Wells said the training session was a unique experience for both emergency services as they regularly worked together on the road but seldom got the chance to train together and learn more about their respective roles.
“We all know our roles and responsibilities, but it was about looking at ambulance considerations versus rescue considerations, and understanding what each one’s roles are and sharing information,” he said.
“For the ambos, it’s also showing them the complexities of road rescue; it’s not as simple as asking for something and getting it done, or cutting up a car, there’s quite a bit to it due to the complexities of the newer cars we’ve got.
“A lot of the ambos didn’t know that, so it was good.”
Mr Wells said after the success of last week’s event, the emergency services planned to do more joint training sessions in the future.
