The death of a Lexington firefighter last Friday has generated a great deal of concern for emergency responders and prompted some agencies to take a closer look at policies -- if any -- set down to safeguard their employees.
"I think it's a matter for all of us to take another look at what we're doing and make sure we're doing it as safe as we can," said Henderson Fire Chief Terry Lewis.
Currently, the fire department's safety procedures aren't "specific to an incident," he said. "Our policy deals with scene safety as a whole."
With a house fire, personnel watch for downed wires. When a vehicle accident occurs, firefighters stay alert to cars driving around the scene.
And in a situation involving violence, Lewis said, if firefighters know before they arrive that there could be problems, "it's normal practice for us to wait for the police."
But in some incidents, he said, "you don't know what you're walking into."
Director of the Henderson Ambulance Service, Tim Mahone, said policy for this agency is to wait for the police.
On any domestic call or any call involving violence, "we don't go in unless the police go in first," he said.
Mahone agreed with Lewis by saying, "a lot of the times we don't know what we're going into."
Imperative to any emergency situation is getting as much information as possible to emergency responders before they arrive on the scene, Mahone said.
"What happened in Lexington can happen here," he said.
"The public needs to give information needed to save responders' lives," he said. "And it's (important) for dispatchers to be as good as they can be. That puts a lot of stress on dispatch to get as much information as they can."
For the ambulance crews, Mahone said it's part of their training to assess scene safety.
"I've made it quite clear to crews -- you don't risk your life or (risk) injury."
Henderson Police Lt. Col. Charlie Young, director of Henderson County dispatch, said when a situation arises and there's violence that threatens emergency responders then "that information is passed on to emergency responders."
"A lot of the time, responders won't go into a hot scene unless it's secured" by police, he said. Sometimes the information given isn't as reliable as responders need it to be. People don't tell the entire story to dispatchers and sometimes information is "choppy." But if a responder is in danger and a dispatcher knows that, Young said, that information is given out.
Police Chief Ed Brady said there are standard procedures followed in calls involving violence.
"In most cases, agencies are going to wait for police to secure the scene," he said.
"We do a pretty good job of communicating," among the agencies, Brady said. "Here we have one dispatch center so we're in good shape in getting information to each other."
