Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) provides fire and EMS services to the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba. It operates from 27 fire stations, and 3 administration offices across the city.
WFPS has two equally important divisions: the Winnipeg Fire Department (WFD) and Winnipeg Emergency Medical Services (WEMS), using a centralized dispatch system.
History
The first Fire Commissioner of Manitoba was appointed via the Fires Prevention Act, which was assented to on 21 February 1872. At the time, the Act only addressed the prevention of prairie fires.[3]
Winnipeg incorporated as a city on 8 November 1873. The following year, on September 24, the city's volunteer fire brigade was established. Rather than working-class citizens, this brigade was organized by local property owners to protect their properties from fire, as costs of insurance were drastically increasing.[4][5]
On 14 October 1874, City Council proposed its first money referendum to eligible voters, which included an order to obtain a $25,000 line of credit towards purchasing fire engines and apparatus, as well as to construct buried underground water tanks along Main Street for firefighting purposes. (The only people who were entitled to vote at this time were the property owners, many of whom were also responsible for organizing the fire brigade.) The ordered equipment, which arrived the next month, included: hose reels, fire hose, a hook-and-ladder truck, and chemical engines, as well as a horse-drawnsteam pumper.[5]
On 25 January 1875, a city by-law was passed for the organization and management of a fire department.[5] In 1976, each district of Manitoba had an Assistant Fire Commissioner appointed to provide training, investigation, inspections, public education, and other services. Also this year, the Manitoba Fire College was created.[3]
The Winnipeg Fire Department was eventually created on 17 May 1882, with William O. McRobie as its first full-time Chief.[6] At this time, there were 3 permanent stations of the WFD: Central, on 347 William Avenue; South, on 150 Smith Street; and North, on 47 Maple Street.[5] In 1919, the WFD would adopt a two-platoon system, no longer requiring firefighters to live on job, 84 hours (3.5 days) a week. In 1928, the Fire Prevention Bureau was established and staffed with 3 members.[7]
On 1 October 1946, the WFD implemented a three-platoon system, giving firefighters a 46-hour workweek.[8] On 8 June 1954, Winnipeg experienced its largest fire in history, at the Time Building.[8]
On 20 June 1959, Winnipeg would be the first in North America to receive a three-digit emergency number for police, fire, and ambulance—Dial 999 (eventually changed to 911). The next year, on the first of March, the WFD adopted a four-platoon system, granting firefighters a 42-hour workweek (two 10-hour days, two 14-hour night shifts in 8-week cycle).[8]
In 1972, Winnipeg amalgamated with the several municipalities in the surrounding area. Finally, on 7 January 1974, the 8 municipal fire departments, including that of Winnipeg's, were combined to create a single department.[9] Prior to amalgamation, fire department history in the former municipalities of the Greater Winnipeg area include:
In 1969, both St. Boniface fire halls were closed and replaced. North Kildonan established a full-time fire department, with 2 fire engines, 1 rescue, and a 1000-gallon tanker truck.[9]
Also in 1974 came the Winnipeg Ambulance Department; before then, ambulance services were provided by local private ambulance companies. In 1982/1983, the WFD introduced the use of first responders to start assisting the Winnipeg Ambulance service on medical calls.[9] As of 2000, both departments amalgamated to form the Emergency Response Service of Winnipeg, which was later renamed as the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service.
In northwest Winnipeg today, there sits a Winnipeg Fire Fighters Memorial Monument at Brookside Cemetery, commemorating local firefighters.[10]
Organization
The WFPS is guided by The Fires Prevention and Emergency Response Act of Manitoba.[11]
WEMS ambulanceWEMS ambulance with ambulance cotWEMS MIRV and PACER bicycles
The Winnipeg Emergency Medical Services (WEMS) is the branch of the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service that provides paramedic and ambulance emergency patient transport to the citizens of Winnipeg. WEMS operate out of 3 stand-alone ambulance stations and 20 of the 27 fire stations.
The service uses a dual-response system in which the Winnipeg Fire Department has a licensed Primary Care Paramedic on most firefighting apparatus who can assist the paramedics on ambulance.[14]
WEMS has 25 ambulances, 1 Major Incident Response Vehicle (MIRV),[15] 1 bariatric ambulance,[16] 4 District Chiefs-Paramedic Operations, and 1 Platoon Chief- Paramedic Operations. Since 2002, WEMS operates 1 PACER Unit (Paramedics Active in Community Education and Response), which is a pair of specially outfitted paramedics deployed on bicycles during the summer months (weather and staffing permitting).[17] District Chiefs-Paramedic Operations use chase vehicles to assist paramedics on ambulances with pediatric and high-acuity calls and review paramedics' performance for continuous quality improvement.[14] The Platoon Chief-Paramedic Operations oversees all EMS operations and, if required, can respond in an Incident Command role.
four 24-hour platoons — each platoon operates 17 full-time ambulances, 2 interfacility patient transfer ambulances, 4 spare ambulances (dependent on staffing levels), 4 District Chief-Paramedic Operations, 1 Platoon Chief-Paramedic Operations, 1 MIRV, 1 bariatric ambulance, and 1 PACER Unit (Paramedics Active in Community Education and Response)
two 12-hour "peak" platoons — These platoons assist during peak hours with greater call volumes. Each of these platoons operate 8 ambulances, 1 interfacility patient transfer ambulance, and 1 District Medical Supervisor unit.
Pre-hospital emergency medical services and emergency ambulance transport, like all other health care in Canada, is the responsibility of the provincial government. The City of Winnipeg operates the WEMS as a service purchase agreement to provide these services for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) and Shared Health.[18] WEMS is also responsible for providing interfacility patient transport for patients requiring specialty services not offered at the hospital at which they are being treated and repatriate patients to community hospitals. They are assisted by the WRHA Transport Team: Respiratory Therapists with specialized training for transporting ventilated patients or those receiving certain medication infusions. All stable patients not requiring interventions, advanced skills or being repatriated to a Personal Care Home are not transported by WEMS but by Stretcher Service of Manitoba who operate under contract. WEMS also transports patients coming to the city via air ambulance to hospital.[18]
WEMS Community Paramedics
WEMS currently operates 2 award-winning[19] community paramedicine programs: the Main Street Project Paramedic and the Emergency Paramedic In the Community (EPIC).
The Main Street Project is a crisis/drop-in shelter service that offers a drop-in shelter, a chemical detoxification unit, transitional housing, and houses the city's Intoxicated Person's Detention Area (IPDA).[20] Since 2009, the Main Street Project Paramedics are responsible for on-site assessment and monitoring of all IPDA clients,[21] as well as providing a first line access to care for the clients of the drop-in shelter, the detoxification unit and those in the transitional housing unit.[22] The community paramedics at The Main Street Project are on site 24 hours every day. Since October 2013, Main Street Project Paramedics have been offering HIV point-of-care testing (POCT) to clients of The Main Street Project and high-risk individuals in the community. Since HIV POCT have been offered at The Main Street Project, this site does more POCT than the all other sites in Manitoba offering the test combined.[citation needed]
As of 2013 WEMS, added the Emergency Paramedic In the Community (EPIC) program. The EPIC paramedics provide non-transport medical assistance to common 911 callers, the Salvation Army building and other at-risk patients in the community.[22] The EPIC community paramedics run 12 hours per day, every day during daytime and evening hours. In December 2013, the EPIC program was expanded to follow up with at risk individuals in the community after 9-1-1 calls. When WFPS Paramedics respond to 9-1-1 calls and identify citizens who are at risk, they have the ability to fill out a referral to the EPIC program. The EPIC Paramedics follow up on each referral and help the citizens gain access to proper medical care or other needed resources. Once the needs of the patients are met, the EPIC program tracks these patients to ensure the resources put in place continue to be effective.[23]
Winnipeg Fire Department
WFD Engine6 fire truck
The Winnipeg Fire Department (WFD), operating under the parent organization of the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, is the fire department for the City of Winnipeg.
Initially, Winnipeg had a volunteer fire brigade that began in the city in 1874; the WFD was subsequently created in 1882.
As of 2011, 29 fire engines, 6 rescues, 5 aerial ladders, 3 squads, 4 District Chief units, and 1 Platoon Chief operate on four 48-hour platoons (two 10-hour shifts, two 14-hour shifts, and then 4 days off); all units are operational and staffed full-time.[1] WFD also has 2 of the heavy rescue units that assist with technical rescue, trench rescue, hazmat, auto extraction, water rescue, along with specialty design vehicles, as well as 2 jetboats and several zodiacs for water rescue & water-based fire suppression.[26][27]
Until 1 January 2018, the WFD also offered child car seat inspections to the general public.[28] These inspections required the owner of the child seat to have already installed the seat in the vehicle and to bring it to one of the seven stations at which the service is offered. There, firefighters that had special training in ensuring child car seats are fitted safely would inspect the car seat to make sure it is safe for use. If any adjustments were required, they would assist the owner in making the adjustments and educate them on how to properly secure the child seat.[29]
WFPS Communication Centre
The WFPS Communication Centre is responsible for receiving emergency calls and dispatching of all ambulance and fire apparatus for the City of Winnipeg. The City of Winnipeg operates a centralized 9-1-1 emergency call service for both the Winnipeg Police Service and WFPS. All calls are received by the Winnipeg Police Communication Division who passes on all non-police calls over to the WFPS Communication Centre. The WFPSCommunication Operators are responsible for triaging all EMS and Fire calls received at the centre and dispatching all emergency, non-emergency and pre-booked Interfacility Transfer calls. Since 2007, WFPS has been using a central dispatch for both EMS and Fire calls.
All pre-booked emergency and non-emergency Interfacility Transfers are handled by the Interfacility Transfer (IFT) division. The IFT dispatchers are responsible for triaging and assigning this workload to the WEMS Transfer division, the WRHA Transport Team and Stretcher Service of Manitoba.
The Communication Centre uses the AcuityPoint Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) System developed by Lynx Graphics which integrates the enhanced 9-1-1 Sentinel telephone system (E911). This gives Communication Operators the advantage of receiving immediate information on the caller such as the caller's location and phone number. This information, along with all other information obtained by the operator is relayed to all EMS vehicles' Electronic Patient Care Reports (E-PCR). The Communication Centre relays all dispatch information electronically to Station computers, the crew's PanasonicToughbook computers (E-PCR) in the field and over the air through a Harris P-25 trunked radio network.
To facilitate dispatching of the closest appropriate unit, EMS vehicles and Fire apparatus are equipped with and Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) System. This along with electronic status heads in every vehicle reporting unit responding, on-scene and transporting times help the dispatchers keep accurate tracking of all units whereabouts, status and availability.
The Communication Centre is staffed by a minimum of 7 Operators and 1 Communication Center Shift Supervisor (CCSS) on four 24 hours platoons, dispatching WEMS and WFD. All Communication Operators are responsible to taking 9-1-1 calls, confirming the address and phone number of the emergency, obtaining all specific relevant information about the call, establishing through security questions if the scene is safe for field providers to attend and establishing the priority of the call (emergency or non-emergency). The 9-1-1 call taker then forwards the information to the EMS or Fire dispatchers (or both) who are responsible for assigning the call to the appropriate crews/units as well as monitor all vehicles in the field. Meanwhile, the call taker may stay on the line until help arrives on-scene and will give pre-arrival instructions to the patient. These include assisting/instructing the caller with performing Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), or instructing appropriate chest pain patients to self-administer Aspirin (ASA). The WFPS also is responsible for the operations of the WRHA's Inter Facility Transport system. The booking and dispatching of ambulances and stretcher car services in the movement of patients between care facilities within the city's 6 hospitals and many clinics. This secondary dispatch center is staffed 24/7 with 3-4 communication operators who interchange with the 911 center on a rotational basis.
All Communication Operators are at minimum trained and licensed Emergency medical responders (EMR), and receive intensive in-house training. All Operators have obtained the National Academy of Emergency Dispatch System's Emergency Telecommunicator (ETC) Certification, Emergency Medical Dispatcher (EMD) Certification and Emergency Fire Dispatcher (EFD) Certification. They are also certified in use of the Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) and Fire Priority Dispatch System (FPDS). Both of these dispatch systems are used internationally and guarantee consistent and accurate assessment of the caller's emergency as well as consistent dispatching. These system help alleviate problems where the caller may exaggerate or downplay the emergency, and provides the call taker with a consistent approach to every call. All Communication Operators go through ongoing training with these systems and go through yearly recertification. The Communication Centre Shift Supervisor is responsible for overseeing all operations within the Communication Centre and review calls for continuous quality improvement.[30]
WFPS has a primary and secondary fully operational Communication Centre, both with generator back-up power so that all communication services they provide maintain 100% full-time, uninterrupted operation regardless of circumstances on incidents that may occur.
Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. They may also be known as a first aid squad, FAST squad, emergency squad, ambulance squad, ambulance corps, life squad or by other initialisms such as EMAS or EMARS.
An emergency medical technician is a medical professional that provides emergency medical services. EMTs are most commonly found serving on ambulances and in fire departments in the US and Canada, as full-time and some part-time departments require their firefighters to be EMT certified.
A paramedic is a healthcare professional trained in the medical model, whose main role has historically been to respond to emergency calls for medical help outside of a hospital. Paramedics work as part of the emergency medical services (EMS), most often in ambulances. They also have roles in emergency medicine, primary care, transfer medicine and remote/offshore medicine. The scope of practice of a paramedic varies between countries, but generally includes autonomous decision making around the emergency care of patients.
A certified first responder is a person who has completed a course and received certification in providing pre-hospital care for medical emergencies. Certified individuals should have received much more instruction than someone who is trained in basic first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) but they are not necessarily a substitute for more advanced emergency medical care rendered by emergency medical technicians and paramedics. First responders typically provide advanced first aid level care, CPR, and automated external defibrillator (AED) usage. The term "certified first responder" is not to be confused with "first responder", which is a generic term referring to the first medically trained responder to arrive on scene and medically trained telecommunication operators who provide pre-arrival medical instructions as trained Emergency Medical Dispatchers (EMD). Many police officers and firefighters are required to receive training as certified first responders. Advanced medical care is typically provided by EMS, although some police officers and firefighters also train to become emergency medical technicians or paramedics.
The City of Toronto Paramedic Services, is the statutory emergency medical services provider in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The service is operated as a division of the City of Toronto, under the Community & Social Services cluster. The service is funded by the municipal tax base, and operates similarly to other municipal divisions, such as the Toronto Parks, Forestry & Recreation division, or the Toronto Water division, but retains operational independence from other divisions. While under municipal government control, it is subject to provincial legislation and licensing. It is not the only service provider in its area; private-for-profit medical transport services also provide routine, non-emergency transports and coverage for special events, but the statutory emergency medical system is the only provider permitted to service emergency calls.
Paramedics in Germany are the main providers of emergency care in emergency medical services in Germany. There exist two professional levels regulated by federal law, the Rettungsassistent and the Notfallsanitäter.
A nontransporting EMS vehicle, also known as a squad car, fly-car, response vehicle, quick response service (QRS) vehicle,chase car, or fast response vehicle, is a vehicle that responds to and provides emergency medical services (EMS) without the ability to transport patients. For patients whose condition requires transport, an ambulance is necessary. In some cases they may fulfill other duties when not participating in EMS operations, such as policing or fire suppression.
The Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service is a Canadian non-profit helicopter air ambulance organization funded by individual donors, service groups, corporate donors and government contributions. STARS provides rapid and specialized emergency care and transportation for critically ill and injured patients. STARS operates from bases in Calgary, Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and formerly Halifax.
Louisville Metro Emergency Medical Services is the primary provider of pre-hospital life support and emergency care within Louisville-Jefferson County, Kentucky. LMEMS is a governmental department that averages 90,000 calls for service, both emergency and non-emergency, each year.
In the United States, emergency medical services (EMS) provide out-of-hospital acute medical care and/or transport to definitive care for those in need. They are regulated at the most basic level by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which sets the minimum standards that all states' EMS providers must meet, and regulated more strictly by individual state governments, which often require higher standards from the services they oversee.
Emergency medical services in Canada are the responsibility of each Canadian province or territory. The services, including both ambulance and paramedic services, may be provided directly by the province, contracted to a private provider, or delegated to local governments, which may in turn create service delivery arrangements with municipal departments, hospitals or private providers. The approach, and the standards, vary considerably between provinces and territories.
Emergency Medical Service in Germany is a service of public pre-hospital emergency healthcare, including ambulance service, provided by individual German cities and counties. It is primarily financed by the German public health insurance system.
Cypress Creek Emergency Medical ServicesAssociation, also known as Cypress Creek EMS (CCEMS) was a private, non-profit emergency medical service provider for Harris County ESD 11 in North Harris County, within greater Houston, Texas. In 2021, CCEMS declared bankruptcy and operations ceased in mid 2022. In late 2022, the remaining assets, branding, and trademarks were bought by Viking Enterprises, DBA City Ambulance Service. All ambulances in use by CCEMS are Mobile Intensive Care Units (MICU), with at least one Paramedic, making all ambulances ALS units. Cypress Creek EMS provided 911 service in North Harris County, provided bicycle medic teams for special events, provided tactical EMS support for federal, state, and local law enforcement, and operated an accredited educational institution.
Grady EMS is an emergency care provider owned by Grady Healthcare System.
The Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) is the state emergency ambulance and patient transport provider in Queensland, Australia. QAS is part of the Queensland Government under the Queensland Health portfolio and is one of the largest ambulance services in the world.
Emergency Medical Service in Austria is a service of public pre-hospital emergency healthcare, including ambulance service, provided by individual Austrian municipalities, cities and counties. It is primarily financed by the Austrian health insurance companies.
The New York City Fire Department Bureau of Emergency Medical Services is a division of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) in charge of emergency medical services for New York City. It was established on March 17, 1996, following the merger of the FDNY and New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation's emergency medical services division. FDNY EMS provides coverage of all five boroughs of New York City with ambulances and a variety of specialized response vehicles.
Air medical services are the use of aircraft, including both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to provide various kinds of medical care, especially prehospital, emergency and critical care to patients during aeromedical evacuation and rescue operations.
The Virginia Beach Department of Emergency Medical Services is the 911 EMS provider for Virginia Beach, Virginia. Virginia Beach is the largest city in the United States with a volunteer based EMS system. Since the 1940s Virginia Beach has offered free pre-hospital emergency services through 10 volunteer rescue squads supported by 1,100+ volunteers throughout the city. Virginia beach EMS has also been a leader in a variety of pre-hospital technologies including 12-lead transmission, EZ-IO technology and therapeutic hypothermia, rapid sequence induction, video laryngoscope, end tidal CO2 monitoring, STEMI and Stroke programs and community CPR, among others. These programs and more have contributed to the 36% cardiac arrest survival rate (2012). I
The City of Cleveland Division of Emergency Medical Service, also known as Cleveland EMS or CEMS, is the division of the municipal government tasked with emergency ambulance transport for the City of Cleveland, Ohio.
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