Firefighters Train to "Hot Load" Victims for Emergency Flight Services

Rural places can be tricky for firefighters and first responders because there are lots of miles that must be covered on sometimes very challenging roads. Sometimes its safer and faster to have a helicopter to lift the trauma victim(s) and move them to the nearest qualified hospital. During these types of scenarios, agencies may opt to use an emergency airlift service like Guardian Flight.   

On the ground firefighters at Escanaba Township Vol Fire Department, Bark River Vol. Fire Department, Ensign Vol. Fire Dept and Nahma Fire Department attended training on how to "hot load" injury victims. Most of these guys/gals do so out of the goodness of their hearts and don't receive any compensation. Supporting your local firefighters can go a long way in helping communities stay safe during difficult times. 

FYI....Escanaba Township Vol. Fire Department is still in need of a newer grass/brush/field truck if there are any companies that want to donate. 

If you want to know about some of the national and international fire associations you can check out Michigan's LARA list. As volunteer organizations often suffer with attracting new people and resources one dissertation study suggests volunteer fire departments might consider a stronger recruit and retention approach. (Looking at studies like this helps us better understand how to encourage community participation and engagement in a way that strengthens communities. I would look at multiple studies to tackle a recruitment and retention problem like this. One could also consider other types of volunteer motivations and the personality traits individuals have that push them to spend their time helping when they could be doing other stuff. For example, if we introduced volunteering to highschool students we may encourage the more altruistic students to engage in firefighting/volunteering after graduation.)