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Bellevue Fire and Rescue has four fire stations strategically located across the city that are staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Each station has 4 – 8 personnel staffing various apparatus to meet your specific needs. As career firefighters, every crew member is trained as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) or at an advanced level as a paramedic. These crews eat, sleep, and train together at all times during their shift and are available to respond at a moment’s notice. Crews are required to be en route to a call in less than 60 seconds from the time they are alerted by the dispatchers at Sarpy County 911 and are usually on the scene in under five minutes.
The Bellevue Fire & Rescue Department provides a variety of services to the citizens of Bellevue and our surrounding areas, but this month we are going to focus on Emergency Medical Service (EMS). In 2021, Bellevue Fire responded to 4478 medical calls-an average of 12 medical calls per day. To help answer these calls, we staff three medic units. The medic units are also known as rescue squads or ambulances. Our medic units are equal to mobile emergency rooms. We can provide basic life support or advanced life support depending on the situation. When we are alerted to a medical call, we respond with a unit staffed with two individuals, and we send a fire truck or aerial truck staffed with 3-4 individuals. Some folks ask why do we also send the fire truck? The answer to that is we never really know what kind of call we are going to until we get there. Sometimes the calls are very serious, and our members must perform lifesaving measures such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), or we may have to help a patient breathe by inserting a tube down their throat. When we have these types of calls, six firefighters can be extremely busy. We would rather have too much help on location versus having to dispatch additional help delaying treatment. Another interesting fact is that our engines and aerials carry medical equipment on board and most times one of the crew members is also a paramedic; this allows advanced life support to start prior to the arrival of the medic unit. Frequently engines, trucks, and medic units come from two different stations ensuring the fastest possible response time.
Additional services Bellevue Fire & Rescue provides are fire protection and suppression, automobile accident mitigation and rescue, carbon monoxide emergencies, gas leaks, fire prevention, and more. Bellevue Fire is part of a local mutual aid agreement between Papillion, Offutt, and Omaha Fire Departments. This can be utilized by requesting or offering services to surrounding areas in a time of need. Bellevue is fortunate to be a part of this mutual aid agreement. We will cover those in future issues of “HOT OFF THE PRESS.”
