Patriotism and Pride at the 12 House

By: Battalion Chief Mark Davis

Some old fire hose and a bunch of "know how" created this great patriotic master piece for the day room of Station 12 (Hillandale). Many thanks to Firefighters Dan Rothermal (24B) and Bill Naugle (2B) for taking on this project and keeping the "company pride" going in the 1st Battalion! Excellent work fellas!

A pretty awesome work of art that is also dimensionally correct in terms of length, width, and star size.

Inspiring The Next Generation While Keeping The Community Safe

Master Firefighter Damian Langston walks some
children around Paramedic Engine 724

By: Lieutenant Robert Furst

Every Saturday afternoon, firefighters and EMTs in the 1st Battalion canvas the community to hand out informational materials and check residences for working smoke alarms. Occasionally, this leads to one of the most enjoyable moments of our work days: showing children the fire truck.

Children marvel over the size of the apparatus along with the shiny and clean condition of the equipment. To be frank with you, most of the personnel of The 1st were the same way when we were kids, and we like to reminisce about those times. It is our hope that we can brighten the day of the children and maybe lead some of them down the path to becoming the next generation of 1st Battalion Firefighters.

I Called for an Ambulance. Why is There a Fire Engine Outside?

By Lieutenant Robert Furst

Currently, in The 1st Battalion, there are six fire engines staffed 24 hours a day 7 days a week with four firefighters one of whom is a paramedic. These fire engines are housed at Downtown Silver Spring (1), Hillandale (12), Burtonsville (15), Four Corners (16), Montgomery Hills (19), and Colesville (24). Officially, they are named ALS First Response Apparatus (AFRA). On the radio, they are called Paramedic Engines.

As seen in this picture, the fire engines are equipped with a full complement of Advanced Life Support (ALS) equipment. This includes a cardiac monitor with 12-Lead capability with the ability to transmit said ECGs to the receiving hospitals. Also carried is a complete set of emergency medications and equipment with which to start IVs and place advanced airways in patients. For patients with trouble breathing, all of the paramedic engines carry a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device. The AFRA carries everything a medic unit carries and complies with the minimum requirements for ALS units in the State of Maryland.

These four person paramedic engines serve multiple purposes. They can respond as the first paramedics to arrive on the scene while awaiting a medic unit, thus providing emergency medical aid minutes sooner (every second does count), or they can respond to satisfy the assembly of one or two paramedics and a transport unit on the scene of a medical emergency. If the paramedic is required to upgrade the ambulance, and help render aid to the patient enroute to the hospital, the fire engine will remain in service with a staffing of three firefighters.

The four person staffing is also instrumental in significantly reducing the amount of time to place an attack line (fire hose) operational to start to extinguish a fire sooner. This was proven in a National Instituteof Standards and Technology (NIST) study and in the recent battalion drills.