"I called 911 for an Ambulance.
Why is a Fire Truck here?"

The Suppression Division of the Waltham Fire Department provides emergency medical services throughout the city in a coordinated effort with Waltham's contract ambulance service - American Medical Response (AMR). We are usually the first to respond because we have more staff and are usually located closer than the ambulance crews.  We have 10 fire apparatus located at six stations throughout the city compared with one BLS ambulance and one Medic unit that AMR has dedicated to the city of Waltham.  All of our fire fighters are trained medical first responders and certified in cardiac defibrillation.  All our fire apparatus carry oxygen, medical kits, cervical collars and cardiac defibrillators.  Furthermore, many of our fire fighters are Emergency Medical Technicians (E.M.T.s) and several others are Paramedics.

Many of our calls involve moving or carrying heavy patients to the ambulance which often requires all three fire fighters on the apparatus along with the two ambulance workers.  During cardiac emergencies, you will see a fire truck, ambulance and medic unit. All this staffing is necessary to properly administer CPR with a cardiac defibrillator.  To take you through a typical call, one fire fighter might maintain a seal on the oxygen delivery device, one fire fighter will compress and deliver the oxygen, while the third fire fighter will perform chest compressions.  A fourth person, usually an E.M.T. from the BLS ambulance will operate the defibrillator.  The fifth person, the other E.M.T. from the BLS ambulance will collect important medical information about the patient from the family members or by conducting various evaluations.  The medic crew will then concentrate on intubating the patient and administering drugs necessary to revive a patient.  All of these resources will try to stabilize the patient before transporting to the hospital.