You may notice a change in what the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory is wearing to emergency calls.
Fire Chief Mike Wilson tells News Now Warsaw’s IN the Know that new protective vests are now in use.
“Our township advisory board, our Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory board, and the City Council allowed us to put funds away, very graciously, so that we could buy protection vests for firefighters.”
With the help of Lutheran EMS and the state representative from the EMS board, Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory recently achieved non-transporting advanced emergency medical technician level service.
“With Lutheran being very busy and with our technical rescue team moving to an advanced technician level, this is giving these guys that are trained that opportunity to treat quicker and to help the citizens while we’re waiting for the ambulance to arrive,” Wilson explains.
“If it’s a severe call, if it’s a cardiac call, these advanced EMTs will be able to do things and administer drugs and help that paramedic on scene to be able to help save a life. It’s all about community, it’s all about saving lives, and that’s what’s driven us towards moving to this next phase.”
Wilson says 70% of their run volume each month is medical in nature. Those calls include some that could be dangerous for first responders, like drug overdoses in the community. This is one of the reasons for the protective vests.
“Not to confuse anybody with law enforcement, but you’re going to start seeing that, because we need to protect our employees,” Wilson says.
The vests will look similar to a bullet proof vest and will have the word “rescue” on them.
