Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are in widespread use in consumer electronics. Lithium batteries have become the industry standard for rechargeable...
SVFD News
Recent Articles
2023 Community Risk Reduction (CRR) Week
Each year, starting with the Martin Luther King holiday, fire departments around the nation support a weeklong campaign to educate communities about...
Call for Pro and Con Committee to Review Levy
Pro and Con Committees Spokane Valley Fire Department is placing before the voters on the February 14, 2023 ballot a proposition authorizing a maintenance and operations excess levy.
From the Chief: EMS Continues to Evolve
SVFD has been involved this year in several new Emergency Medical Services (EMS) initiatives.
In September, SVFD in partnership with Spokane Fire Department and the PulsePoint Foundation launched PulsePoint Verified Responder. This program builds upon the current PulsePoint application by notifying our off duty firefighters when they are in the vicinity of a sudden cardiac arrest. The program equips our off duty personnel with Automatic External Defibrillators (AED’s) which they will carry with them when they respond. SVFD is one of four test sites for this program in the United States. More on PulsePoint Verified Responder.
In early August, the Department instituted the “ride to care” pilot program. The essence of this new program is to provide low acuity patients of medical emergencies an option to get treated at the most appropriate healthcare facility. The program enables trained Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and Paramedics to recommend to the patient (based on severity of their illness) that they receive care at a non-emergent heath care office as opposed to everyone being transported directly to the hospital’s emergency room. The Officer can then call a transport provider who will take the patient to the healthcare facility and then return them back to their place of residence. This program frees up valuable time for our EMS resources and keeps them available for higher priority emergencies, and helps the local emergency rooms by being less crowded with minor illness patients. More on the “Ride to Care Program.”
Lastly, we just completed a pilot program which placed a Quick Response Vehicle (QRV) in the field to respond to lower acuity calls in place of a regular fire engine. These units are fully equipped if the emergency shoud escalate and are staffed with at least one paramedic. So far, the data indicates that the program has accomplished a number of our benchmarks and we are eager to see what the full evaluation reveals now that the pilot is complete. More on the Medic 7 program.
I hope you enjoy our fall season and as always we appreciate your support!
~ Chief Bryan Collins
Did you Know?
- You can sign up for a station tour. Great for small groups.
- You should replace the batteries in your smoke alarms twice a year.
- Creating a defensible space with regards to wildfires could just save your home or property.
- We have Friends & Family CPR classes every month.