Photo By Joshua Cox | Max J. Quale, a firefighter and emergency medical technician with Fire & Emergency...... read more read more
Subscribe
The first responders of Fire & Emergency Services Gulf Coast continue to serve on the frontlines amid the Coronavirus pandemic that has provided unique challenges when responding to calls.
The department, which is the largest on the Gulf Coast, has a critical mission, numerous tasks and a massive area of responsibility.
“Fire & Emergency Services Gulf Coast is an all-hazard response agency providing services under the “metro” concept to Naval Air Station Whiting Field and NAS Pensacola,” said Chief Dan Chiappetta, who oversees the department. “Together we support and protect the installations’ tenant organizations as well as our surrounding communities in Northwest Florida and South Alabama. Our goal is to safely respond, take quick and decisive action, mitigate the situation, and make the area safe or identify the hazards so the mission or occupants can continue their daily activities.”
The department is a dynamic and complex operation with multiple capabilities.
“Our department is unique due to the complexity of our responsibilities to include structural firefighting, Airport Rescue Firefighting (ARFF), shipboard firefighting, hazardous material response, technical rescue response, Advanced Life Support (ALS) and Basic Life Support (BLS) Emergency Medical Services, dive team and rescue boat operations,” Chiapetta said.
Chiapetta said the Fire & Emergency Services Gulf Coast does not have specialized teams broken up within the department to run certain calls – personnel train in all areas.
“All of our personnel train in multiple specialties with an all-hazards approach to be able to effectively respond to any emergency incident,” he said.
Chiapetta said the department’s current area of responsibility encompasses NAS Pensacola including Sherman Field, Corry Station, Saufley Field, NAS Whiting Field along with 13 outlying flight training fields.
“We cover two states, five counties and cover 4,500 square miles of flying area.”
The department employs more than 100 civil service employees and 100 military personnel, he said. The department maintains fire engines, aerial ladders, a tower truck, ARFF equipment, ambulances, special operations equipment, command vehicles and fire support vehicles.
“We use multiple types of tools and equipment to mitigate incidents to include Jaws of Life, circular saws, chainsaws, airbags, hazardous materials monitoring equipment, self-contained breathing gear and technical rescue equipment,” Chiapetta said.
Within the past year the department has responded to many emergency situations, including the active shooter event in December 2019. Chiapetta said the department had a pivotal response to the active shooter event.
“Two gunshot victims’ lives were directly saved by critical interventions given on scene,” he said.
Additionally, personnel with the department limited property loss due to outstanding firefighting operations on multiple structural house fires in the local community.
Chiapetta said the COVID-19 pandemic has presented new challenges for the department, but the team has made strides to adapt to the circumstances.
“We have taken some steps to combat COVID-19 by limiting a lot of our movement outside of an emergency response, limiting movement between fire stations, issuing (N95) masks to all of our personnel and conducting screening at our entrances prior to making contact with outside personnel,” he said. “We constantly review changing medical protocols, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requirements and suggestions in relation to COVID-19. Additionally, we are in constant contact with our medical director to discuss any changes to policy or anything we have learned during responses to better prepare and equip our personnel to handle this pandemic.”
Chiapetta said the community should take the COVID-19 pandemic very seriously.
“Practice social distancing and if you need help call for assistance,” he said. “Ensure you are honest when answering the dispatcher’s questions so we can prepare properly for the response, wear the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) and initiate the proper treatment protocols.”
Chiapetta said the Fire & Emergency Services Gulf Coast leadership is extremely proud of the department’s personnel for the professionalism and outstanding work they perform each and every day.
“Our personnel put in a tremendous amount of work – especially in relation to training in order to be fully prepared to respond to any type of incident and mitigate it with the least amount of harm to the community and environment,” he added.
| Date Taken: | 04.22.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 04.22.2020 11:33 |
| Story ID: | 368108 |
| Location: | NAS PENSACOLA, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 371 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Fire & Emergency Services Gulf Coast supports NAS Pensacola during COVID-19 pandemic, by Joshua Cox, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
