SAFENET


SAFENET

Wildland Fire Safety & Health Reporting Network

SAFENET Event Information
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SAFENET ID:
20150317-0001
Event Start Date:
03/06/2015 0900
Event Stop Date:
03/06/2015 0930 
Incident Name:
Cloquet Area Work Capacity Test
Fire Number:
 
State:
Minnesota
Jurisdiction:
State
Local Unit:
Cloquet Area
Incident Type:
Work Capacity Test
Incident Activity:
Readiness/Preparedness
Stage of Incident:
Non-incident
Position Title:
Firefighter (HEBM)  
Task:
Ardouous Pack Test 
Management Level:
N/A
Resources Involved:
Work Capacity Test Administrator, EMT, Additional test recipients 
Contributing Factors
Contributing Factors:
Human Factors
Human Factors:
Decision Making  
Other Factors:
 
Narrative
Describe in detail what happened including the concern or potential issue, the environment (weather, terrain, fire behavior, etc), and the resulting health issue.
Work Capacity Test was being taken by an individual beginning at 9:00AM on March 6, 2015. The test was being held in an indoor hockey arena. The firefighter was on his 16th lap of 24 when he began to experiience chest pains(approximately 0930) The firefighter continued to walk for a short period until he began to feel dizzy. He started to lean against a wall and lost consciousness. Two firefighters behind him caught before he fell to the ground. The EMT assigned to the test immediately came over and administered oxygen. The patient responded to the oxygen treatment and regained consciousness. The ambulance was on scene with 8 minutes and did some tests on the patient. The patient felt he was feeling fine and refused transport. The ambulance had him sign a release form and suggested that he go to the emergency room to be examined, then left the scene. The test administrator convinced the patient that he should be checked at the ambulance and personnally drove him to the Cloquet Hospital Emergency Room. Within a short time after entering the hospital it was determined that he be sent to the cardiac care unit of Essentia Hospital in Duluth, MN. He was transproted by ambulance to Essentia, tested and almost immediately went into surgery. Patient spent 7.5 hrs in surgery to correct an enlarge Aortic aneurysm. The repair required the surgeon to replace a portion of his aorta and insert a prosthetic heart valve. The patient spent 7 days in the hospital and was released on 3/12/15. He is at home recovering at this time.
Immediate Action Taken
Reporting Individual : please describe actions you took to correct or mitigate the unsafe/unhealthful event.
All medical procedures were in place atthe time. Consent forms were filled as directed by Agency policy.
EMT was in place and adminstered 1st aid immediately. Ambulance responded within 8 minutes.
Patient responded to the medical treatment and decided he did not need to be transported.
The test adminstrator wisely advised the patient to get further examination at the local hospital and personnally insisted on driving him to the hosptal emergency room.
Patient was planning on driving home (around 30-40 miles) by himself and if he had could very easily have had a major medical emergency.

Lesson: Firefighters tend to want to be tough and after initial recovery this person felt that he was feeling find. Having chest pains and losing consciousness is not normal and medical attention should be received immediately The test adminstrator possibly saved the patients life by personnaly transporting the patient to the hospital.


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