May Recap

Incidents

Your Wexford VFC volunteers had another very active month with 79 calls. Thirty-two (32) incidents involved fire and rescue-related responses and forty-seven (47) incidents were for quick response emergency medical calls. We responded to a residential structure fire in Cranberry to provide a rapid intervention standby crew at the scene. Other incidents of note include a smoke investigation call at the Taco Bell in Pine that was found to be due to a bad HVAC unit. Crews also assisted occupants out of a stalled elevator at the Connected Health building. A total of twenty-nine (29) members responded to calls in May. Our average turnout time (dispatch to the first unit on the road) was one minute and fifty-seven seconds. Our average response time (dispatch to the first unit on the scene) was five minutes and twenty-six seconds.

Here is a breakdown of our incidents for April by major incident type:

Fire- 2
Fire Alarm- 5
Good Intent- 17
Hazardous Condition- 2
Rescue & QRS- 50
Service Call- 3
TOTAL- 79

Training

Members were hard at work with training in May. We completed our annual hazardous materials operations, refresher class. Members worked on vehicle extrication techniques by using our extrication tools on a donated vehicle. We also used the training burn building at Butler Community College for an evening structural burn class. Members were able to get multiple repetitions in setting up for fire attack and extinguishing training fires in the building. On the Quick Response Medical service side, members received training from the McCandless-Franklin Park Ambulance Authority on mass casualty incident protocols as well as how to assist paramedics in using cardiac monitoring equipment.

On the lighter side, members participated in a team-building drill with a game of basketball at Pine Park. While we don’t really jump into our protective gear and respond to a basketball game, this drill helps members determine their air consumption rate while breathing from our protective breathing equipment during moderate physical activity. Participants are also able to practice breathing techniques to help control their breathing rate and maximize the time they have with the limited air supply in the air cylinders.

Community Outreach

Community outreach efforts included in-house activities as well as visits to the community. We had station visits from the Wexford MOPS group and Aquinas Academy. The kids from these groups were treated to a fire safety talk, a tour of the fire trucks, and a chance to “operate” a fire hose with one of our firefighters. We also took to the road to participate in the Perry Highway Lutheran Church’s Touch-A-Truck event and Goldfish Swim School’s Water Safety Day event.