My partner and I (both EMT-B rookies) responded to a stabbing/gsw at 0230, 3 miles up a one lane dirt road. It was in a rich neighborhood, a bunch of business/movie execs that liked the peace and quiet and horses etc. Dispatch told us that we were clear to enter per county fire. Awesome. Unfortunately it was wishful thinking. The father of the stabbing victim was retired city fire and was apparently giving dispatch an earful. As a result dispatch thought we were clear to enter. This was approx 5min out, we lost comm soon after due to canyons.
So we thought we were clear. Long story short we rolled up on the crime scene mere minutes after a second patient was shot. There was an active shooter at large, my partner and I were by ourselves, sheriff was disorganized, we didn't have radio, data terminal, or cell phone reception, nor egress (blocked by sheriff). We staged in the best possible spot until some sergeant came by screaming at the top of his lungs for us to get in and treat the patient. We are issued class IIIA ballistic vests but they are typically used for civil unrest and were back at our station. While I turned the rig around sheriff blew by in pursuit of one of the suspects who almost took out my driver-side mirror. Follow up deputies AGAIN closed off egress and by that time our only route to clear the one lane road was into the scene where we proceeded (against my better judgment).
My question, as a rookie, is where do I draw the line regarding scene safety? Do I throw the rig in park, stand on the brake and refuse to enter the scene even though I'm blocking the entire road and sheriff can't get around me? I wasn't thrilled about rushing into an active shooter situation. Since I did however, do I blame that on a brash, ricky-rescuer tendency or did I legitimately not have much of a choice?
(We rolled up to find a 20yo male w/tension pneumo due to a stab under his left nipple. ALS arrived a few minutes after us and the medic performed a needle thoracostomy too close to his heart, later sending him into v-tach and requiring him to lance him a second time, higher up. We had a half hour ETA to the ER and fire was having trouble getting through to medical control. It wasn't the greatest of nights, on top of that my partner got carsick in the back while enroute to the ER and I had a hysterical mother in the passenger seat).
So we thought we were clear. Long story short we rolled up on the crime scene mere minutes after a second patient was shot. There was an active shooter at large, my partner and I were by ourselves, sheriff was disorganized, we didn't have radio, data terminal, or cell phone reception, nor egress (blocked by sheriff). We staged in the best possible spot until some sergeant came by screaming at the top of his lungs for us to get in and treat the patient. We are issued class IIIA ballistic vests but they are typically used for civil unrest and were back at our station. While I turned the rig around sheriff blew by in pursuit of one of the suspects who almost took out my driver-side mirror. Follow up deputies AGAIN closed off egress and by that time our only route to clear the one lane road was into the scene where we proceeded (against my better judgment).
My question, as a rookie, is where do I draw the line regarding scene safety? Do I throw the rig in park, stand on the brake and refuse to enter the scene even though I'm blocking the entire road and sheriff can't get around me? I wasn't thrilled about rushing into an active shooter situation. Since I did however, do I blame that on a brash, ricky-rescuer tendency or did I legitimately not have much of a choice?
(We rolled up to find a 20yo male w/tension pneumo due to a stab under his left nipple. ALS arrived a few minutes after us and the medic performed a needle thoracostomy too close to his heart, later sending him into v-tach and requiring him to lance him a second time, higher up. We had a half hour ETA to the ER and fire was having trouble getting through to medical control. It wasn't the greatest of nights, on top of that my partner got carsick in the back while enroute to the ER and I had a hysterical mother in the passenger seat).