OCEAN CITY — Ocean City Fire Department (OCFD) personnel got a unique hands-on training opportunity this week, learning real-time techniques at a recently-acquired building set for future demolition.
The OCFD recently has made efforts to enhance and elevate the department’s training to incorporate both fire and emergency medical services, which should improve delivery and retention opportunities for its members. The enhanced training has included creating real-time, real-life scenarios and buildings around the resort acquired by the department and set for demolition.
On Tuesday, OCFD firefighters and paramedics trained with personnel from other departments around the state at a vacant residence on 74th Street behind the midtown Station 3 firehouse. The training included all types of real-time scenarios from entering the building to triaging patients and practicing techniques with various apparatus.
During one segment, firefighters and paramedics were trained in how best to use various pieces of equipment for breaking down a steel door to gain entry to a building on fire. OCFD spokesman Ryan Whittington said the hands-on training will better equip OCFD firefighters and paramedics during actual emergency situations.
“Ocean City firefighters and paramedics have been training using rarely acquired structures before they are demolished,” he said. “The ability to train in acquired structures allows for realistic, creative training that develops better firefighters. Instructors also added a medical component to the training, focusing on patient care protocols, assessment and skills associated with burns and airway management.”
Whittington said the training combined residential search and rescue with mayday operations involving structure fires by using the acquired structures. The training included an EMS component focusing on patient care protocols, assessments and other skills associated with burns, airway management and other unique challenges such as carbon monoxide poisoning, for example.
“Ocean City firefighters and paramedics treat thousands of sick and injured patients each year,” he said. “We have to be prepared for the most basic emergency to the most complex emergency, knowing that minutes count to save someone’s life. Our training is what prepares us to make a difference in the lives of those we serve and protect.”
Whittington said the in-the-field, real-time training better accomplishes the department’s goals than training in a classroom, for example.
“By delivering and performing updated information while engages in actual scenarios and simulated environments, it creates a unique and purpose-driven setting that results in better application instead of traditional classroom learning environments,” he said. “When it is presented with the background of prior incidents, it creates the foundation of its purpose and further strengthens our firefighters and EMS providers.”
Ocean City paramedics are governed by the state’s Maryland Institute Emergency Medical Services (MIEMMS), which provide the protocols by which the department trains and practices.
“The OCFD works closely with MIEMSS and other state agencies such as the Maryland State Police Aviation Division to ensure we are giving the right care at the right time and the right medical facility,” said Whittington. “The end result being that we are making a tremendous difference in the lives of our patients.”
