►
From YouTube: City Scoop - October 7, 2015
Description
October 7, 2015
Episode 002 of City Scoop features Kelley Klope, Public Information Officer for the Asheville Fire Department, discussing why fire trucks are dispatched on emergency medical calls.
A
Hi
I'm
Kelly
cloak
public
information
officer
for
the
Asheville
fire
department
and
today,
I
hope
to
answer
a
very
common
question
often
asked
of
our
firefighters,
and
that
is
why
our
fire
trucks
dispatched
an
ems
calls
emergency
medical
calls.
We
work
as
a
team
here
in
Asheville,
so
it's
not
like.
Oh
we're
racing
to
get
to
the
scene
to
beat
the
paramedics.
We
want
to
get
there
as
quick
as
possible
if
their
first
and
they
realize
they
don't
need
a
fire
truck.
A
Then
they
will
actually
dispatch
called
dispatchers,
say:
hey,
we've
got
this
taken
care
of,
you
can
cancel
the
fire
truck,
and
so
we
will
go
back
in
service
and
be
ready
for
the
next
call.
You
may
have
just
three
to
five
ambulances
within
the
city
limits
during
a
given
day
and
they
may
be
on
other
calls
or
the
distance
of
travel
may
be
greater.
We
have
roughly
17
different
fire
trucks
that
we
send
on
our
calls
and
so
obviously
we're
going
to
get
there
a
lot
quicker.
A
A
But
the
great
thing
is
is
that
we
work
as
a
team,
no
matter
who
gets
there
first
starts
that
initial
patient
care
and
then,
if
that
patient
needs
to
be
transported,
then
they're
obviously
going
to
be
transported
quicker
and
we
again
can
assist
in
that
a
firefighter
can
actually
drive
an
ambulance
in
as
the
paramedics
work
that
patient
to
the
hospital,
all
of
our
personnel
and
our
fire
trucks
are
emergency
medical
technicians.
They
are
certified
and
they
have
continuing
ed
hours
each
year
to
maintain
that
certification.
A
So
they
are
able
to
administer
patient
care
immediately
and
hopefully
get
that
patient
prepared
if
they
need
to
travel
by
ambulance.
So
when
the
ambulance
gets
there,
that
is
a
lot
quicker
process.
Sometimes,
when
people
call
911,
they
may
not
always
know
the
true
emergency.
Somebody
may
call
in
a
certain
type
of
situation,
and
when
we
get
on
the
scene,
it's
a
little
more
advanced
than
they.
Let
us
know
having
a
fire
truck.
There
means
that
we
have
additional
equipment,
not
just
personal
care,
but
some
type
of
rescue
equipment.
A
The
fire
truck
has
more
equipment,
obviously
for
any
type
of
rescue
that
we
may
encounter,
or
any
other
type
of
incident
that
we
may
encounter.
That
was
not
described
them
phone,
so
bringing
that
fire
truck
means
we're
not
only
bringing
highly
trained
personnel
we're
also
bringing
additional
equipment
that,
hopefully,
we
could
handle.
Whatever
situation
we
may
encounter
scream
for
help
from
a
window.
You're
gonna
have
to
access
from
the
rooftop.
A
When
we
respond
to
you
in
the
past,
the
Asheville
Fire
Department,
along
with
fire
stations
across
the
country,
we
tried
using
what's
called
a
quick
response
vehicle
and
that's
a
smaller
vehicle
that
we
would
send.
Instead
of
the
larger
truck
to
certain
ems
calls
and
those
q
RVs,
we
used
for
a
while
hoping
to
reduce
costs
to
the
citizens
and
we
sent
those
trucks
out.
A
So
we've
gone
back
to
sending
our
basic
fire
trucks
our
ladder,
our
engines,
our
squads,
whatever
it
is
to
that
911
call
again
we
work
as
a
team,
because
our
ultimate
goal
is
to
save
lives
and
provide
the
best
patient
care
possible.
I
hope
I've
been
able
to
answer
some
of
your
questions,
especially
when
it
pertains
to
why
do
they
send
fire
on
emergency
medical
calls?
Thank
you.