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AFGS Success Stories
This page contains a synopsis of a fire department that has been awarded an AFG Grant. North Boston Volunteer Fire Company, Inc. North Boston, New York
What They Bought With the 2002 AFG Grant:
The North Boston Volunteer Fire Company is located in Erie County , New York , near the town of Hamburg . They serve a 10 square mile rural area with approximately 3600 residents. Winters in this area can be extremely harsh. The response area includes many well-secluded homes and the US Route 219 Expressway. While they do not provide ambulance service, out of the 50 members, they have 1 Paramedic, 5 EMTs, and 12 other certified first responders. Thirty-eight percent of the calls are to respond to auto accidents, with the remaining calls for fire, mutual aid, or other miscellaneous assistance. Since receiving the grant, all members of the company have been outfitted with NFPA compliant equipment, which they use for every call to service for their community and neighboring fire companies.
How the Grant Has Helped: During a winter snow storm in March 2005, the company was called to an accident on US Route 219 Expressway involving an overturned Ford Explorer with the driver trapped inside. To make matters more complicated, the driver had just recovered from back surgery. Once the Boston Paramedics arrived on the scene and after the crews stabilized the vehicle, they assessed the patient. The patient was protected and the crews began the extrication. The entire roof and the steering wheel had to be removed in order to gain access to the patient. She was carefully immobilized and transported in the waiting ambulance to the Regional Trauma Center for treatment. In a similar incident in July 2005, another auto accident resulting in a rollover required the extrication of a victim from the upside down vehicle. The belted passenger was trapped by the crushed roof and inoperable doors with a fuel leak present. The extrication team determined that access to the patient would be gained by removing a door. After the vehicle was stabilized and the fuel leak was mitigated, the crew safely removed the patient to a waiting ambulance where she was transported to the Regional Trauma Center . Because of the tools purchased with the grant, the extrication was accomplished within minutes of the arrival of Rescue Unit.
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