A raft of new technology and tools were highlights of Palm Beach Fire-Rescue’s season, with more to come this summer.
This marked the first full season for the department in its landmarked North Fire Station, which underwent a $17 million renovation and rehabilitation that was completed last spring. In February, the multi-year project won the town the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach’s Edward E. and Susie Elson Award, which recognizes historically sensitive renovations at non-residential buildings.
In addition, the department added new devices and vehicles that are helping to keep response times stable amid major traffic congestion on the island while South Ocean Boulevard is closed next to President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, Palm Beach Fire-Rescue Assistant Chief Joseph Sekula said.
Here’s a look at what was new in the department this season, and what Palm Beachers have to look forward to in the coming months.
Smaller vehicles help navigate clogged roads
Palm Beach Fire-Rescue this season rolled out a pair of pint-sized life-saving quick response vehicles.
While the rescue vehicles are smaller, they provide an outsized benefit to an island with a growing population, packed roads and no room to grow.
“If our rescues cannot get through the traffic to get to where they need to go, we can deploy crews on these vehicles that can get through lanes of traffic, can hop over a curb if need be, can go through the grass to get to the patient to start treating,” Sekula said.
One is a fully electric vehicle that was donated by the Palm Beach Police & Fire Foundation and funded by the Trump Organization. The red-and-black golf-cart-style truck has a stretcher in the back and gives crews the ability to transport a person the same way they would using a full-sized rescue vehicle, Sekula said. It primarily serves the North End and is kept at the North Fire Station, he said.
The other is a gas-powered Polaris side-by-side. That vehicle operates in Midtown from Fire Station No. 1 on South County Road.
That vehicle in particular came in handy during the holiday tree-lighting ceremony in early December on Worth Avenue, Sekula said. As the huge number of people left the event, a person experienced a medical emergency.
“The rescue was not going to be able to get anywhere near the Worth Avenue area. (With) so many people and traffic — there was no way,” he said. “We had that (quick response vehicle) staged right behind the fountain (on Peruvian Avenue) and they were able to get right to the patient.”
Without that planning, precious time may have been lost trying to coordinate ways to clear the roads for a rescue vehicle, Sekula said.
New technology, devices to aid in saving lives
Also helping Palm Beach Fire-Rescue navigate clogged roads: The HAAS Alert system has now been installed on all vehicles, Sekula said. The program alerts vehicles from some carmakers that a department vehicle is approaching, and the driver needs to move off the road to make way.
A major new tool was approved by the council this season and is expected to roll out this summer. The town bought four Siemens Healthineers epoc point-of-care machines, thanks to a $122,760 donation from the Palm Beach Police & Fire Foundation.
The handheld, portable devices analyze critical blood values within minutes, helping crews in the field and the hospital provide faster and more accurate treatment with hospital-grade diagnostics, Sekula said. The analysis can be done in the back of a rescue vehicle, at a patient’s bedside or at the scene of a crash.
“We are making ourselves a mobile Quest lab on wheels,” he said, referring to the health-test centers that operate throughout Palm Beach County.
Also within the coming months, fire-rescue crews will upgrade their bedside monitors to new Zoll Zenix models, Sekula said. The all-in-one tool measure heart rhythms, oxygen levels, blood pressure and pulse while also serving as a defibrillator, he said, calling it “a Swiss Army knife.”
The new monitors integrate with the department’s patient reporting system so patient information is transmitted seamlessly to the hospital, he said.
“All of this next-generation tech just makes it that much better,” Sekula said.
Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach Fire-Rescue touts new tech, vehicles to beat traffic
Reporting by Kristina Webb, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
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