Pa. City`s Fire Department Earns Quick Response Certification

Nov. 06--WILKES-BARRE -- Believe it or not, most times when a fire truck is zipping by with its lights on and siren blaring in the city, the firefighters onboard are not headed to a fire.

Eight times out of 10, they are responding to a medical call.

The city fire department recently received the state Department of Health Bureau of Emergency Medical Services quick response service certification. The bureau licenses all ambulance services and credentials all pre-hospital providers in the state. What the certification does is show that the state validates the city fire department meets the bureau's standards of training and equipment for handling medical emergencies.

Fire Chief Jay Delaney said his firefighters are all emergency technicians, and while attaining the certification is a first-time achievement for the department, city firefighters have been providing emergency medical response for the past 30 years. In 2014, the fire department went to 1,228 quick response service calls and 6,570 advanced life support calls, which is about 84 percent of their total calls, according to numbers provided by the city.

As medical calls continue to increase, Delaney said the fire department has recently invested $33,500 on upgrades for its basic life support equipment, paid for through grants from the Luzerne County Office of Community Development.

Mayor Tom Leighton said while recently talking with a group of businessmen who criticized the high fees and taxes for city residents, one thing he said he pointed out was how many other municipalities in the county only have volunteer emergency responders; whereas, the city has full-time departments that handle medical emergency calls.

"If you take ill -- whether it is a heart attack, a stroke or some other type of medical emergency -- you're best chance of survival is if it happens in the City of Wilkes-Barre," he said.

"No doubt," Delaney agreed.

jseibel@citizensvoice.com

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