History:
Prior to 2002, Volunteer First-Aid Squads from Hightstown and Allentown served the Township of Washington responding to thousands of requests for ambulance service through the years. Over the course of time, however, these first aid squads began to suffer from declining volunteer membership. This resulted in greatly extended response times to calls for Emergency Medical Service (EMS) in Washington Township.
In 1999 the Washington Township Fire Department began its “First Responder” program. Firefighters trained as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) responded to life-threatening medical and traumatic emergencies in a fire engine equipped with oxygen, an automatic defibrillator (AED), and other basic medical supplies. Firefighters were able to arrive at the scene of these emergencies within minutes of the call and provide stabilization to patients while awaiting the arrival of volunteer first aid squads from surrounding communities. For several years this first responder program was able to bridge the gap caused by the volunteer squad’s long response times.
In June of 2001, the Allentown First Aid Squad announced that it would cease service as Washington Township’s primary first aid squad effective January 2002. Due to declining membership and a sharp increase in calls to Washington Township, Allentown First Aid Squad was no longer able to provide service to its primary coverage area (Allentown Boro and Upper Freehold Township) and adequately serve Washington Township as well.
Faced with the dilemma of how to provide EMS to Washington Township, the Town Council explored its possibilities. It was decided that since the Fire Department had already been providing 24 hour EMS first responder service for the past three years, that the Washington Township Fire Department would become the Township’s sole provider of EMS beginning in January of 2002.
The Fire Department purchased a new ambulance in the fall of 2001 and also received the Township-owned ambulance that was assigned to Allentown First-Aid Squad to use as a backup. A set of EMS Standard Operating Procedures was written and the Fire Department became a New Jersey Licensed Basic Life Support provider. After a competitive testing process through the summer of 2001, eight new full time firefighters were sworn in on January 4, 2002. On January 6, 2002 the Washington Township Fire Department ambulance responded to its first call and transported their first patient to the hospital.
WTFD EMS Today (2005):
Since its inception, the Washington Township Fire Department has become a leader in EMS in Mercer County. Unlike many private ambulance services, the Washington Township Fire Department has a very competitive hiring process that requires applicants not only to have previous firefighter training but also to be certified and experienced EMTs. These candidates for employment undergo an extensive evaluation of their skills. This process involves a written exam covering National Standard basic EMT curriculum. If the candidate passes the written exam they move on to a practical skills exam involving medical and trauma scenarios. In these scenarios, candidates are required to evaluate and properly treat a “patient” involved in a mock traumatic event and also one suffering from a simulated acute medical emergency. Candidates are then required to properly document the results of their “patient” assessment and treatment on a written patient care report. Only the candidates who pass all three components of the EMS portion of the test are considered for employment.
As a result of our competitive testing process, the Washington Township Fire Department is fortunate to be staffed by very experienced and well-educated EMS providers. In fact, even though the Fire Department has only been providing ambulance transport since 2002, the average Washington Township firefighter/EMT has over 10 years of experience as an EMT. Furthermore, 20% of our staff is certified to the level of “Paramedic” which is a higher certification than EMT and generally takes an additional two years of training to acquire after receiving the basic EMT certification.
Washington Township Fire Department continues its program of sending a “First Responder” fire engine to EMS calls depending on the nature of the emergency. This service maximizes the efficiency of the on-duty EMT trained firefighters. Personnel assigned to the fire engine can stabilize life-threatening emergencies and assist the ambulance crew. This minimizes on-scene times and gets patients transported to the hospital as quickly as possible. This first responder service is common throughout the nation and, locally; Hamilton Township, West Windsor and Bordentown Township also routinely send fire engines to medical emergencies and traumatic accidents.
The Washington Township Fire Department responds to over 1500 calls per year. EMS calls account for about 60% of the fire department’s call volume which is consistent with National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) statistics that show that, nationally, EMS calls make up 61% of fire department responses.*