Services
EFFPD provides multi-emergency response services for the Douglas County Area
Emergency Medical Service (EMS)
The EMS Program is overseen by our Medical Director, Dr. Holland. Under Dr. Holland’s supervision, East Fork Fire Protection District provides Advanced Life Support (ALS) care to the residents and visitors of the District with four (4) ALS staffed Engines and four (4) ALS staffed Ambulances (Rescues). An apparatus is considered “ALS” when there is at least one Paramedic on board and the apparatus is licensed as ALS through the State of Nevada. Paramedics are the highest level of EMS care available from the District. Paramedics can respond to and treat any EMS call that is received, including, but not limited to: cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest, major hemorrhage, major trauma, allergic reactions, choking, strokes, and heart attacks.
For cardiac arrests, the District is responsible for providing BLS and ALS care during the cardiac arrest and ALS care in the post-cardiac arrest setting. Each of the District’s Type 1 Fire Engines and Ambulances are staffed with at least one Paramedic and all the equipment necessary to provide care in the event of a cardiac arrest. ALS care will be provided on scene until the paramedic determines it is safe to transport the patient to the closest Emergency Department. The community can assist our district by calling 911 immediately when a cardiac arrest happens, remaining calm on the phone, and providing hands-only CPR as directed by the dispatcher.
The District also provides lower levels of care via Firefighters with EMT-Basic and Advanced-EMT training. EMTs provide care to patients who do not require ALS care. Some examples of this include low blood sugar, wound bandaging, minor falls, and other non-emergent illnesses. Additionally, East Fork Fire provides Interfacility transport (IFT) for patients who require transport from one hospital or care facility to another when a higher level of care is needed. This sometimes includes providing patients with a means of transportation from the hospital to their residence if there is a medical or physical condition that prevents traditional transportation.
Dr. Dustin Holland
EMS MEDICAL DIRECTOR
Dr. Holland also serves as the medical director for Carson City and Central Lyon Fire. The district works closely with these other agencies to provide excellent care across the quad county region through collaboration in training and medical treatment protocols. Dr. Holland is board-certified in Emergency Medicine and EMS. He works as a full-time Emergency Medicine Physician and serves on the State EMS Advisory Committee. He lives in the area with his wife and three young children and enjoys camping, boating, hiking, and exploring all Northern Nevada has to offer.
Fire Airport & Rescue
Minden Tahoe Airport, an uncontrolled airport, is operated by a private contractor, representing Douglas County. Uncontrolled means our airport does not have a tower to control air traffic. The airport serves gliders, recreational pilots, and commercial companies. The aircraft run the range from hot air balloons, high altitude gliders, prop planes and limited commercial jet aircraft. The airfield is used by Federal contractors for wildland firefighting for both rotary and fixed wing aircraft. The airfield can be used as an air tanker base where Small Engine Air Tanker (SEAT’s) mobile base support is provided as needed. At one time the airport served as a regional large air tanker base.
Hazmat
Hazardous materials are chemicals and materials that pose a danger to the public, property, or the environment once they improperly exit their containers. While East Fork Fire does not traditionally respond to many “hazmat” calls, we do have great potential given some of the occupancies and the interstate highway that runs through the heart of our jurisdiction.
East Fork Fire is a member of the Quad County Hazmat Response Team (Carson City, Central Lyon County, Storey County). This enables us to field a team to make entry into life threatening incidents involving hazardous materials without the cost of staffing and maintaining a stand-alone team. The regionalization of this response need has served very well for over 30 years now. East Fork Fire was a founding member of this team.
Structure Fire Response
East Fork Fire District responds to structure fires that range from an outbuilding to multistory hotels. Our most common type of structure fire is the single-family home. The number and type of apparatus initially dispatched depends upon the description that callers provide the 9-1-1 dispatcher. We try to vary the amount of apparatus to what the incident requires without over or under dispatching.
When the structure fire is dispatched as a Priority 1, four Staffed Engines, four Rescues, the Battalion Chief and Training/Safety Captain are sent. The Duty Chief (one of the Executive Officers) also gets notified. This staffs the fire with all 23 firefighters that are on duty each day. The volunteers provide the Squad for Logistical support and in un-hydranted areas Water Tenders.
Technical Rescues
The District provides several types of emergency response which are identified by NFPA 1670 as Technical Rescue. Some technical rescue disciplines have been delegated to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Division. In other cases, some are a shared level of service.
Active Shooter
We are fortunate to have a good working relationship with our local sheriff’s office and firefighters with significant military background in the active shooter arena. East Fork Fire has partnered with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office to provide for rescue teams of firefighters to accompany Deputy Sheriffs into hazardous situations to provide emergency medical services.
East Fork Fire has a procedure in place along with the necessary equipment for these activities and training is provided so every employee has the same base knowledge.
Confined Space Rescue
East Fork Fire provides confined space rescue at the awareness level only. Should we experience a confined space rescue, mutual aid from Carson City Fire Department and Yerington/Mason Valley Fire would be necessary.
The most predominant place we enter the technical rescue field is on motor vehicle collisions. Our community has many high-speed routes and intersections. Many of these are known to be areas that have frequent high velocity motor vehicle collisions that require the use of tools and expertise to extricate patients from their vehicles thus creating a case for “technical rescue.”.
Ice Rescue
In planning for the worst-case scenario when exercising an ice rescue, a fire department team will have the most successful outcome when the team properly plans and practices for an ice rescue given their known target hazards within their community.
Working through the extremely dynamic environment that is ice rescue, rescuers (and commanders) must overcome complacency, misunderstandings of equipment/techniques and the environment. The responding agency must adjust on the fly, as we always do in the fire service, which gives the person who fell through the ice the greatest chance of a successful rescue while keeping the first responders safe.
Rope Rescue
East Fork Fire has bolstered its rope rescue capabilities in the past few years with the addition of new equipment. Efforts have been made to increase training and competency of all personnel to low angle rope rescue scenarios that we are likely to encounter on Kingsbury Grade, Highway 395, and mutual aid into Alpine County.
East Fork Fire can provide operational response to most rope rescue incidents within our response areas. Rope Rescue: 15-29 degrees is considered low angle. 30-50 degrees is steep angle. Anything above 50 degrees is high angle.
Trench Rescue
Trench rescue is a specialized form of rescue, a subset of confined space rescue. Trench rescue involves shoring up the sides of a trench and digging a trapped worker out of a collapsed ditch. Trench rescue is one of the most dangerous rescue operations to complete.
We rely on the Carson City Fire Department for technical assistance and support in this regard. East Fork Fire personnel are trained to the awareness level only.
Water Rescue
Static Water Rescue
East Fork Fire has a rescue boat at Topaz Lake, in coordination with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, for several years. Our personnel are trained and equipped for its use and application on the lake. The extent of our static water rescues exists year-round due to a fishing season that runs from January to October and ice conditions that exist on smaller lakes and ponds in the winter months.
Swift Water Rescue
Seasonally our rivers fill due to winter snow melt in the spring through early summer. East Fork Fire, per the Nevada Revised Statute (NRS), relies on the Douglas County Search and Rescue (SAR) to respond to swift water incidents.