RAF ALCONBURY, England -- After six weeks of training, 12 firefighters from across four of the 501 Combat Support Wing (CSW) installations joined together to complete their basic Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certification on Dec. 3, 2020 at RAF Alconbury, England.
During the training, the EMT trainees learned vital life-saving skills such as patient assessment and management, trauma care, oxygen administration, spinal immobilization, and cardiac arrest management.
In addition to the EMT training, the 423rd Civil Engineer Squadron (CES) Fire Department acquired a fully certified United Kingdom specification ambulance as well as a United States specification ambulance.
“With this EMT training and the two new ambulances, our firefighters will be able to quickly respond to emergency patient care and provide medical transport, which will enhance our life saving capabilities,” said Andrew Hughes, 423rd CES firefighter and National Health Services medical responder.
Several units contributed to the success of this new EMT certification.
“We have medical professionals and firefighters from RAF Lakenheath, Croughton, Fairford, Menwith Hill, Molesworth and Alconbury that contributed to the success of this EMT basic training for our firefighters. It has been a great collaboration and effort between the different units to accomplish this,” said Chris Mohr, 423rd CES Assistant Fire Chief of Training.
The firefighters assigned to the 501st CSW are the first of the U.S. Visiting Forces (USVF) installations in the U.K. to achieve their EMT certification within the past eight years.
“This is a new initiative for firefighters within Air Force and we are leading the way here in the U.K.”, said Mohr.
Over the next several months, the goal is for the majority of the firefighters within the 501st CSW to be fully certified in basic EMT. Additionally, the two ambulances are expected to be fully operational for patient transport once the fire department receives the final approval from higher headquarters Air Force.