At about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, WPFD and LRFD fire crews were called to assist Lake Maumelle Fire Dept with a structure fire at a two-story house on Westridge Road off Hwy 300 and Pinnacle Road in west Little Rock. The unoccupied home was fully engulfed with fire extending into a wooded area near other structures on the property. Several homes were threatened by the fire that advanced to the wooded areas and posed an extreme risk of fire growth toward neighboring structures and property. It is not known what started the fire. KTHV posted some video of some WPFD, pill LRFD, and LMFD crews on scene.

During a response to a recent motorcycle accident, WPFD needed to get our patient to the nearest trauma center as soon as possible.  Motorcycle incidents especially can present the need for timely treatment because the chance for multiple injuries known and unknown are greater than when involved driver(s) and passengers are inside the confines of a more protected passenger compartment of the vehicle.  Occasions like this require us to quickly find the nearest suitable location to bring in a medical helicopter like Baptist Medflight or Air-Evac to a safe and accessible location complete the patient transfer from the ambulance to the med-evac chopper. We do this kind of stuff a lot more often than you might think.  If you have a large plot of land near a main road, don’t be surprised if we drive up to make a strange request to park a helicopter on you property. We won’t need it for long, but it sure would help out in a pinch. Here are some pictures of our helicopter landing zone “donated” by a helpful neighbor that permitted us to “borrow” his front yard.

Continue reading Do you mind if we park our helicopter here? →

West Pulaski Fire Department responds to just about any kind of emergency you can think of. Just like a municipal fire department, we respond to medical calls, vehicle accidents, rescue situations and a lot of other things that fall in between. Even though we are not that far from the big city of Little Rock, some of our incidents require rapid transport to a medical facility. You may have heard of a term referred to as the “Golden Hour”. This is the really short amount of time that requires an injured person to receive in-hospital treatment within 60 minutes or less.

When a serious incident happens, the clock really starts ticking at the moment the medical event, motor vehicle accident, or rescue event occurs, not when first responder’s arrive to help. Since WPFD is often on-scene first, we begin assessing well before the ambulance can arrive to take you to the hospital. If a medical or traumatic event occurs, we often make preparations to bring in a medical-support helicopter to cut down the time it takes to transport to the closest medical center. When seconds count most, a 5-minute ride by helicopter can drastically cut down the 20-30 minute ride by ambulance. This is how WPFD works to ensure our community gets the medical treatment they require within the “Golden Hour”.

To see some pictures from our recent medical helicopter training class hosted by Baptist MedFlight, follow this link to our training photos page. http://www.wpfirerescue.org/photo-galleries/training-photos/