Hertfordshire to get special paramedic teams (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

Hertfordshire to get special paramedic teams

10:57am Thursday 28th May 2009

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FIREFIGHTERS in Hertfordshire are training paramedics to use breathing equipment so they can treat victims of chemical spills, even before they are moved to a safe area.

Until now, ambulance crews have had to wait while firefighters remove casualties away from the immediate area of a spill, but new hazardous area response (HART) teams will start work towards the end of this year, treating casualties on the spot to increase their chance of survival.

Chief fire officer Roy Wilsher said: “HART teams in other parts of the country have been successfully working with fire and rescue services to deal with a variety of major incidents - I’m confident that in Hertfordshire they will complement our own skills and allow us to jointly provide an even better standard of care to people who are injured in a major incident.”

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