To better serve the local community and visitors to Pittwater, the West Pittwater brigade has staged a series of training sessions for its members to learn how to conduct a medical evacuation.
The Elvina fire boat, often partnering with paramedics and/or the water police, is regularly called out to assist people in distress in the Pittwater area.
There have been a number of Scenario training sessions conducted. The first session focussed on evacuating a patient from a beach, a common occurrence when people are unwell or injured while walking in the national park.
Medivac – West Head
The second session was evacuation from wharfs or jetties, of significant value for local residents.
The third session was the most complex, moving a patient from a small tinnie or a large sailing boat onto the fire boat.
Medivac – boat to boat – practicing proceedure
Medivac – boat to boat – success!
A big thank you to the firefighters, who double as skippers and crew, and volunteered their time to develop these skills.
The brigade is called upon for a broad range of emergency situations and is ‘the swiss army knife’ of the Bays. West Pittwater RFS Brigade volunteers are called upon for to assist with all manner of events, such as clean-up and mitigation duty in the recent floods, clearing fallen trees in the big winds, HAZMAT spillages in Pittwater and even assisting with the Varroa Mite infestation in bees.
There is definitely more to the brigade than fire.
Mitigation – Wisemans Ferry after floods.