| Eight volunteers and two career personnel from Howard County DFRS spent the historical Inauguration Day battling extreme temperatures and crowds in Washington, D.C. providing EMS coverage to the spectators.
Units went in service in the D.C. area at 6am, and immediately began running calls. Each unit was supplied with a D.C. firefighter to navigate the city and operate the radio. Once a unit met up with their patient and their priority was determined, D.C. fire officials determined which hospital the unit was to transport to. This helped to prevent any one hospital from becoming overcrowded.
With an estimated 2 million spectators and multiple road closures and barricades, the units faced a difficult task navigating to and finding their patients. Early reports suggest that there were 1,300 calls for medical emergencies within the District of Columbia between 6am and 6pm. Ambulances and EMS personnel from Maryland and Virginia travelled to D.C. to provide additional support during the event.
The majority of the calls were for hypothermia and crowd related injuries. Temperatures remained in the high 20's with a wind chill in the teens.
Howard County's units were cut free at 9pm, and returned to their home stations. |
