(Joyce) – Volunteers from the Clallam County District 4 Joyce Fire Department put on an elaborate demonstration of their emergency response capabilities for Crescent School on Wednesday.
The simulated drill featured EMT’s, paramedics along with members of the Joyce Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and Joyce Emergency Planning and Preparation (JEPP) teams.
Joyce Fire Chief, Greg Waters, explained how this demonstration came about.
“Well, this started a couple months ago. I was approached by members of the CERT team, which is the Community Emergency Response Team to come up with a drill that we could incorporate all the various entities in our community as we discuss the various options. We came up with the idea to use a helicopter Medevac drill at the school which would best highlight the capabilities of all the various groups. All this happened with close coordination with Crescent School and superintendent / principal.”
In the simulation, two Crescent School students feigned injury as they were lighting a pyro technic devices on the football field. Fire Department personnel simulated the explosion by using a smoke device, coupled with a canon fired off-site. One student simulated a basic life support (BLS) scenario, losing two fingers in the explosion. The second student had facial and respiratory burns and presented as an advanced life support (ALS) situation.
In front of the entire Crescent School student body, a Joyce Fire ambulance responded to the football field to assess and treat the “injured” students. The response team also called for a Life Flight helicopter to evacuate the ALS injured student.
Real life emergencies interrupted the demonstration four times however, as the Life Flight helicopter was called off of the drill to a real emergency. Additional Joyce Fire personnel also responded to assist in those other real life calls.
Chief Waters said that this demonstration is part of a larger community education effort to let local residents know what type of services the fire department provides. He said many of the residents in the Joyce area were surprised to learn that their fire department also responds to emergency medical calls.
“Even though we are a small primarily volunteer station, we still do all the same capabilities as a fully staffed City or full-time fire district. So not only do we provide the fire suppression, but on the emergency medical side, we also respond to all calls at both the basic life support level and the advanced life support level. Approximately eighty-five to ninety percent of our calls are medically related”
The three emergency calls were a perfect example of why additional volunteers are needed.
Joyce Fire continues its recruiting efforts for volunteer EMT’s and firefighters. The department provides that training free of charge. Potential volunteers are urged to attend drills that are held each Tuesday night at 6:00 PM at Fire Station 1, 51250 Highway 112 in Joyce.
Story and photos: Rich Erickson
