Firefighter tackles armed patient

[FrostbiteMedic]

When I read this, the little lightbulb in my head screamed "SCENE SAFETY" to me.....and just how bad it could have went for the FF who tackled the woman....BTW...FF is a former medic.....http://www.firefighternation.com/forum/topics/california-firefighter-tackles

 

[Aidey]

Cases like this are the reason I HATE going on suicide attempts and assaults without PD. I don't know how many times we get dispatched to "overdoses" that aren't violent or "sucidals" that deny having weapons or "assaults, assailant has left the scene. According to who?!?!?! Gah.

 

[FrostbiteMedic]

Cases like this are the reason I HATE going on suicide attempts and assaults without PD. I don't know how many times we get dispatched to "overdoses" that aren't violent or "sucidals" that deny having weapons or "assaults, assailant has left the scene. According to who?!?!?! Gah.

In my area, our SOP is that on ANY suicidal or psych call PD or SO goes in first. I prefer it this way, b/c as I have stated in many a thread before, I AM GOING HOME AT THE END OF THE DAY:excl: I know that saying that again is a little like :deadhorse: but my wife would not understand nor forgive me if I was to end up a LODD.

 

[EMT11KDL]

I am glad that everything worked out the way that it did and that no one was injured. But this is a very good eye opener and learning experience not just for this department but all department across the united states.

I know the county protocols in my area require PD to respond on all overdoses and suicide attempts.

 

[LucidResq]

Cases like this are the reason I HATE going on suicide attempts and assaults without PD. I don't know how many times we get dispatched to "overdoses" that aren't violent or "sucidals" that deny having weapons or "assaults, assailant has left the scene. According to who?!?!?! Gah.

Had one the other day where mother called for daughter and swore up and down it was an accidental MS OD. A quick look at prior call history suggested otherwise... maybe this time it was accidental but when the last 10 times were attempts and mental health holds... FD/EMS were advised.

 

[fortsmithman]

With my service we do not enter a suicide or attempted suicide without having the RCMP on scene first. It's written into our protocols.

 

[jgmedic]

Welcome to Hemet. Steve was a medic for us, and AFAIK, there was no order to stage prior to this call. It's really easy to armchair quarterback stuff like this, but unfortunately, calls like this happen too much in this town. Recently an elderly psych patient brandished a weapon in the ED. I'm sure he made a judgement call, was it the right one? I don't know, but no one got shot, and everyone went home, and that's the best result we could have asked for.

 

[FrostbiteMedic]

Welcome to Hemet. Steve was a medic for us, and AFAIK, there was no order to stage prior to this call. It's really easy to armchair quarterback stuff like this, but unfortunately, calls like this happen too much in this town. Recently an elderly psych patient brandished a weapon in the ED. I'm sure he made a judgement call, was it the right one? I don't know, but no one got shot, and everyone went home, and that's the best result we could have asked for.

I'm not necessarily saying that the FF did not react in a manner beneficial to the situation, however, I am saying that PD should have went in first, thereby eliminating the situation all together. I wasn't there, so I cannot comment on the appropriateness of his actions to the situation, but I can bring up the lesson to be learned from this. Had it been me, I would have retreated from the situation as quickly as possible...if that was possible. Again, this just raises the issue that we need to make scene safety and risk mitigation a priority in our profession.