Shirley N.Y. – Recently the Shirley Community Ambulance Company held its May training. This months training consisted of about 3 hours of training on Fire Rehab and incident management. This training was taught by Chief of Department James Deutcsh who is a RN & Nationally registered paramedic currently service in the role as head of the departments operations. Chief Deucsh presentation which lasted for around an hour to hour and 15 minutes consisted of all the core foundation for operating at a fire scene from What units should be assigned to things like apparatus placement , What gear to bring up and deply based on if it is going to be an average fire response or an extended fire response and down to the nitty gritty of procedures and guidelines for fire rehab. The Department follows NFPA guidance as well as the Bylaws and policies set forth by the Shirley Ambulance Company Board of Directors when deploying for fire rehab.

After conducting the presentation Chief Deutcsh quizzed attending Shirley Ambulance Students and Members on the content of what he went over before turning over the training to rehab coordinator Frank Sarno. Sarno gave a brief presentation on what is contained in the rehab trailer, When it is to be deployed. Policies related to when it deploys both in and out of district as set forth by the Shirley Ambulance Board and what procedures should be followed for response as well as how to deploy and set up various pieces of equipment. After the presentations by Chief Deutcsh and rehab coordinator Sarno the attendees were brought outside where they were able to get a hands on experience deploying the rehab unit and all of its tools. The departments canopy tents as well as the Heated and Air Conditioned blow up tent were set up by the members. They were shown how to blow up the large tent used at major operations and during extreme temperatures and how to connect the AC to it as well as deploying the 2 large misting fans. Once the tents were set up members and the students were invited inside of it where they got the chance to practice their skills taking vitals and checking for CO2 and how to report and document all necessary information to the rehab coordinator or Person in Charge. The Rehab log then becomes part of the PCR and is also sent to the fire chief/ Incident commander where it may become part of their fire/Incident report. Once all the training concluded the unit then needed to be packed to spec so it could be ready to respond to the next emergency call that it would be dispatched to .
The Rehab unit responds on all Working Structure fires the Shirley Ambulance District and is also on mutual aid to other agencies for their working fires including Mastic FD / Mastic EMS. It is also available for Emergency scenes and trainings up the request of departments through appropriate channels and has deployed at times to places like Farmingville, Wading River and more as well as being on scene for an active shooter drill in Riverhead a few years ago.