Should CPR be a Mandatory Part of Firefighter I?

To begin with i'd like to say i believe CPR should be mandatory training for firefighters. before anyone responds to this, I am trying to find out, if anything and what is being done to accomplish this or prevent it.

U.S. Fire Administration report on Firefighter Fatalities published July 2010, shows that in 2009 there were 90 Line of Duty Deaths (the lowest number since 1994). Of the LODDs of those 50 (55%) were classified as "Stress or Overexertion", of with 39 were determined to be cardiac arrest. 13 or those heart attacks were on scene fire duties, 6 on scene non-fire, 3 were in training, 3 were in route, 2 were returning, 5 were on other duty and 6 were after duty (under home town heroes act).

In contrast 7 LLODs were lost, trapped or in a collapse.

1. Why are the majority of Firefighters not trained to BCLS (Professional Rescue) level CPR & AED?

2. Why are DOH agencies not providing Firefighter Down Specific Protocols?

3. Why is there a lacking in EMT/CFR training directly for handling firefighter injuries?

In reading these questions you might think my department does this or be asking why we should.

The fact is that NY Firefighter 1 class is not teaching even basic CPR. In New York OFPC is not providing SFIs as CPR certified instructors for outreach classes, and there does not appear to be any contracted service to provide Red Cross or American Heart CPR for them. This leaves individual agencies to fend for themselves, and leaves a major gap in the safety movement.

Mayday, survival, FAST/RIT (rapid intervention teams), SCBA (mask) confidence, and even firefighter fitness and health all address the issues surrounding firefighter injury and fatalities. Yet, CPR is the first line of action in the largest area of firefighter deaths, cardiac events.

So the big question here really is shouldn't CPR be officially made part of Firefighter 1?

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Permalink Reply by Scott Carlson on October 11, 2010 at 4:38pm

I do not believe so. We have so many classifications and certifications for specific jobs. If we begin to create a Cert that blurs the lines between EMS and fire supressions the education will suffer. Already the FF 1 class takes hours to fullfil, if we add more to the requirments we will add more time and decrease the attention span of the student.

I have worked for two different career departments and both transported so EMS is huge, with that said the EMS aspect was tought at a different time, place and different instructors than the FFI and II.

I do believe we should all be tought proper CPR, the public expects us to be johnny on the spot in all situations but I do not believe they should be put together.

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Permalink Reply by Patti Walz on October 12, 2010 at 9:10am

Your first on scene and a child is choking, what are you going to do? Look at the parent and say sorry this is beyond the scope of my training? What about first on scene at a fire where the family has evacuated the building but some have some bad burns? Yes you could do something but without that certification and something goes wrong because you have just performed basic first aid that was beyond your scope of training you or your department could be held liable depending on the state in which you live.

In my opinion I would much rather have those extra class room hours.

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Permalink Reply by Ron King (Fire Chief) on October 12, 2010 at 9:34am

Firefighter or not. Everyone should have a certification in CPR-AED.

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Permalink Reply by Scott Carlson on October 12, 2010 at 11:40am

Yes, everyone should know CPR, I just dont think it should be combined with FF 1. CPR should be learned and perfected in an enviorment where it is seen as the most important tool. Where I work in the NW ems is priority and our code saves show it. So I do believe in being tought CPR just not when new or newer FF's are so excited about the fire side. I believe it should be tought seperately.

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Permalink Reply by Scott Carlson on October 12, 2010 at 11:41am

yes, just not combined with fire classes. learn cpr and other ems skills seperatley so you can become proficient, it isnt enought to just have a card saying you went through a class.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Duncan on October 13, 2010 at 11:59am

Its mandatory to have CPR AED and First responder training for all UK firefighters

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Permalink Reply by Rod Irvine on October 14, 2010 at 4:54am

here in Nz all fire fighters paid and volunteer are trained in basic first aid and most paid trucks carry AEDs and i do believe that all staff should be trained in CPR and given the chance AED

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Permalink Reply by kara-lee allen on October 15, 2010 at 1:14pm

i dont really understand this class 1..... i think this is our new equivalent to s100 - s 500 training. which i have. almost done step 2. yay! which is complete 1001... then on to officer type formal training... but our s100 is CPR first aid with AED (which all of our halls carry.) We often assist EMS and are often first on scene.. so its kinda important. i believe everyone of my hall members have at least s100.. we go on a tag system (part of accountability) your tag denotes what you can do based on formal training. should be required training!!!

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Permalink Reply by AL on October 16, 2010 at 3:28pm

I do believe that CPR save lives and that is a big part of what we All do. Become an instructor to help as many people learn a life saving skill they might never need or use, until one day, it would great to know. Calif. is manditory for EMT and first responder.