Paramedic SWAT training

Brian98579

My nephew, who is assistant chief of a small-town Washington fire department just posted a video clip on FaceBook, entitled "SWAT medic training". This is a new concept for me. The clip showed a couple of guys on a range, I believe in the San Diego area firing fully automatic weapons.

Why would a fire department or Medic unit need this training? Is this something new, or just a continuing of the militarization of civilian agencies?

Because of some issues in the family, I won't quiz him about this.

grumpygy

May need to ask my son he just got back from some training and he is a Paramedic.

nmyers

Bureaucratic stupidity.

Some police think that they should do fire department work, some firefighters want to get in on police action. I haven't heard of anyone getting killed yet, but eventually it will happen.

My fire department has trained some paramedics in police tactics & issued them body armor so that they can go out with the SWAT team on raids. There's nothing wrong with the way we have traditionally handled the aftermath of police action: no one else goes into the danger zone until the police have secured the scene.

Our fire investigators tried to get guns, but the police chief vetoed the plan. He thinks he can train his officers in fire investigation, & take over that function from the fire department.

In NYC, the police run the rescue squad, traditionally a fire department responsibility.

Everyone thinks he can do the other guy's job better or cheaper.

Neal

countryfarmer

Around here it's not so much make a Medic and SWAT member as giving him the training in case it is needed.
The SRT (special response teams) around here like to have a medic on their roster to either have medical help right there when A:one of their members are hurt or B: when the perp or bystander is hurt.

KEVD18

most organized swat teams have a medic on the team. some are shooters as well as medics, some are just medics.

if you're going into the hot zone, you need to be properly trained in movement tactics, access and egress, etc or you become a liability not an asset.

KEVD18

as a correlary, you cant send a non tactically trained medic even into the warm zone, much less the hot zone.

so your average non tactically certified medic/emt has to wait for the patient to be extricated all the way to the cold zone, while they are receiving little or no care whatsoever. in some cases, that could mean that a patient that otherwise could have live will not.

1880texan

The volunteer fire dept. in New Boston, Tx. has all it's members carry either a AR-15 or a riot .12 ga shotgun AND a Glock in .45 auto. I don't know if they are confused over fighting a fire or a fire fight.[?]

txlawdog

In the military, were the medics also soliders? I would think it is for that same reason.

FrancF

quote:Originally posted by Brian98579
My nephew, who is assistant chief of a small-town Washington fire department just posted a video clip on FaceBook, entitled "SWAT medic training". This is a new concept for me. The clip showed a couple of guys on a range, I believe in the San Diego area firing fully automatic weapons.

Why would a fire department or Medic unit need this training? Is this something new, or just a continuing of the militarization of civilian agencies?

Because of some issues in the family, I won't quiz him about this.


Nothing to see, move on...[;)]]

http://www.infowars.com/video-military-helicopters-conduct-covert-exercises-over-u-s-bank-building/

Laredo Lefty

I have spent a lot of time in LA news helicopters in that area downtown and Staples Center. We fly with bright strobes, position lights, beacon lights and sometimes the night sun. Those guys were very hard to see, looks like they were running only position lights and a red strobe. Its a good thing they pre-warned the news choppers of their activities, could have got dicey.

shilowar

In order to have paramedics on a SWAT Team it is often times better/easier to find an experienced, trained paramedic to incorporate into the Team than it is to find a SWAT Officer that is interested or cross trained in Emergency Medical Technician or Paramedic. Depending on the Team size it makes absolute sense to have 2 or 3 Paramedics incorporated into the Team, that are well versed in their tactics and movements, in the event there is a large, protracted incident such as a Columbine.

Whether the folks are issued and carry weapons, I would want them to train with them and be familiar with handling them in the event the need arises.

Txs

In most areas EMS policies prohibit their personnel from entering scenes until they've been completely secured by the cops. In other words, it's not a matter of whether that medic(s) chooses to place himself in a risky position to help those in need. Even if things work out well in the end he could lose his job for violating company directives. It's a corporate liability issue.

For those teams tasked with securing those areas, having their own trained/equipped medic along to treat injured prior to an area being totally secured is a logical move.

In addition, it's good to have a someone like this with you at all times in case no EMS is even near the scene yet. Same as any situation where traumatic injuries have occurred, those minutes waiting on an ambulance to arrive can be critical - and very long.

There's really nothing new about this concept. It's been done for decades now.

Thinking this is simply a case of one group thinking they can do another's job better is downright asinine.

bhale187

There are agencies around the nation that have combined police, fire and ems all into one. Officers are crosstrained to do all those jobs and respond to al calls for service. That may be what it was.

There is also course called Tactical Trauma Training. It's basically teaching cover/concealment tactics while administering first aid. That's taught to police, fire, and EMS. Different Instructors take that to different levels, and some take it to the point of adding background gunfire to increase the level of stress during 'pracitcal training'.

Just a guess, but what you saw may have been one of those circumstances.

Gotteskrieger

This Country has really gone down the drain from when I was a lad.[V]

utbrowningman

I know several firefighters in Utah who are POST certified. Maybe all of them are - I don't know. I have a neighbor who was nurse at the state prison and he was POST certified also. Cross training can come in handy, I guess.