New kit will soon be added to all frontline Fire appliances in Northamptonshire to help firefighters speed up the triage of injured patients at major incidents.
All fire engines will have ten-second triage kits, which allow fire crews to identify what category of care an injured patient needs within ten seconds and put a colour coded wristband on that quickly identifies to paramedics which patients need urgent care.
The kit has been purchased following the findings of the Manchester Arena inquiry, and it will allow all emergency responders – whether that’s Fire, Police or Ambulance – to start to be able to rapidly triage patients and mark what priority of care they will need at major and critical incidents.
Xtract Stretchers have also been added to all frontline appliances, and this will allow fire crews to be able to quickly move people away from areas of risk.
Group Commander Matt Butler said: “One of the learning points from the Manchester Arena inquiry was that the triage process needed to be standardised across the Emergency Services, and one of the recommendations was that fire staff be trained in utilising these ten-second triage kits.
“The kits will soon be added to all frontline appliances, and we anticipate that training will have been completed by September.”
Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Danielle Stone added: “It is so important that our emergency services work together to keep people safe.
“The addition of the ten-second triage kits to our fire engines is really going to help in our preparation for major events, as well as responding to them with our emergency service partners.”
Fire Risk Assessment (worked example for House in Multiple Occupation (HMO)) (PDF 389KB)
