New skills and equipment for mass casualty incidents

Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) has trained and equipped firefighters with a new enhanced first aid capability to provide life-saving care in the event of a mass casualty incident.

Every frontline FRV fire truck is now carrying the kit for trained firefighters to provide improved medical support to other first responders - such as Victoria Police and Ambulance Victoria - when responding to an incident involving multiple injuries, such as a terrorist attack.

FRV Deputy Commissioner Strategy, Edward Lacko said the new capability was intended to make a critical and potentially life-saving difference in mass casualty incident responses.

“Mass casualty events are thankfully rare, but we have seen them occur in Victoria,” said DC Lacko.

“Our crews are trained and equipped to give the best possible support to our emergency service colleagues when we work together to save lives in these types of incidents.

“This enhanced first aid equipment is highly portable and adaptable to offer lifesaving potential across a very wide range of situations, including those where multiple injured people require urgent medical assistance.”

The new equipment on each frontline fire truck includes two lightweight soft stretchers to move casualties and new first aid kits, containing tourniquets, bandages and haemostatic gauze designed to stop bleeding quickly.

The new equipment is in addition to the existing defibrillators and oxygen kits on fire trucks.

FRV’s Heavy Rescue appliances, based at metro and regional locations, carry an additional trauma kit containing bleeding control equipment that can be quickly dispensed.

“This upgrade means that FRV can now provide improved pre-hospital trauma care as a direct support to our emergency service colleagues and the Victorians they work to protect,” said DC Lacko.

“During critical incidents where there are multiple injuries, we’re able to provide enhanced first aid so our colleagues in Ambulance Victoria can focus on specialist medical needs.

“Our soft stretchers allow us to move injured people from environments affected by smoke or hazardous materials, bringing them closer to medical assistance and boosting their chances of survival.”

DC Lacko said the time-critical nature of traumatic injuries was a key consideration.

“When people are in need of emergency medical care, the timeframe for urgent treatment is often called the ‘golden hour’,” he said.

“The sooner people are treated and removed from the emergency scene for transport to hospital, the greater their chances of survival and recovery.

“This enhanced first-aid capability means that vital treatment is now significantly closer to those who urgently need it in challenging and complex situations.”