By: Captain Dave Carter
Fire Station #4
On
Tuesday, January 26, units from Sandy Spring Fire Station #4 were dispatched
for a report of a person who was having difficulty breathing on Shenandoah
Drive.
Due
to road conditions, Medic (M) 704 was unable to make it up Skyline Drive so they
backed down to Patuxent Drive and let Paramedic Engine (PE) 704 go
first. PE704 was able to make it up Skyline to Shenandoah Court and
staged just past Shenandoah Court to allow the medic and responding plow from
Fire Station #25 access to Shenandoah Court.
M704
was still unable to make it up Skyline Drive. The paramedic and officer
from PE704 went to the dispatched address on foot through the snow while the driver
of PE704 went to assist and dig out M704.
The
patient was assessed and it was determined that she should be transported to a
local hospital.
Plow725
arrived on scene but got buried at the bottom of the hill just past the
address. They were not able to clear a passable path.
Additional
resources were called for; a second transport (M704 threw and chain which was
wrapped around the axle), a 4x4 to get the patient to the transport unit and a larger
plow.
A
second big private plow attempted to come down the hill as well and got
stuck. We placed the patient in the family SUV and the son attempted to
drive up the hill to then transfer the patient to a soon be waiting 4X4 (Brush Truck
724), but was unsuccessful.
Personnel
then acquired a kids sled, put the patient on the sled and pulled her up the
hill using ropes from PE704. Halfway up the hill a local resident arrived
with a John Deere tractor which was then used to drag the sled the rest the way
up the hill.
Firefighters
stayed with the patient, pushing and keeping balance on the sled. We
got the patient
to
M704 for warming and further assessment while crew attempted to complete the
removal of the broken snow chains.
Eventually
a backup ambulance from Howard County arrived and patient care was transferred
to them. The patient was then successfully transported to a local
hospital.
This
was a challenging call that required some ingenuity on the part of the crew to
get the patient successfully to the hospital.
