On Sept. 10, the Sandy Springs Fire Rescue Department put a new rescue unit into service at Station 4 on Wieuca Road and added Advanced Life Support (ALS) to the Quint 3 unit at Station 3.
The fire trucks are referred to as “Quints” because they perform the five separate functions of being equipped with a booster tank, ground ladders, a hose, aerial ladders and a pump.
The Advanced Life Support (ALS) added to Quint 3, now increases the capacity of emergency medical services to cover the entire city. Sandy Springs has staffed up six positions to accommodate the additional Quint.
“This puts more units on the streets,” said Deputy Fire Chief Dennis Ham. “Having Rescue 4 increases our response time in the southwestern sector of the city. It frees up the Quint at Station 4 for other calls. However, if a rescue call comes in while Rescue 4 is on a rescue call, the Quint and its personnel can go on that one. So, in essence, we have double coverage now for Station 4 like all the others.”
The ALS-equipped Quint 3 joins the already ALS-equipped Quints 1, 2 and 4, from their respective stations. Advanced Life Support is a treatment consensus for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in cardiac arrest and related medical problems.
Ham said the new vehicle has similar advantages besides providing increased coverage.
“Having Rescue 4 saves time, too. In that part of the City there are a lot of speed humps,” he noted. “Where the Quint has to slow down dramatically to go over the speed humps, this is not an issue for the Rescue Unit because it is a smaller vehicle. This makes our response time much faster.”
For more information on the Sandy Springs Fire Rescue Department or the City of Sandy Springs, call 770-730-5600.