into the fire?

This piece came up from an incident yesterday. I have a million things going on, including getting married in 5 days. I was heading to town with my fiancé when we were stopped by pedestrians to be told there was an accident. My instant reaction was to ask if they needed a first aider.

As ever there were people I could see standing around the person on the floor, but there was only a couple actually getting involved. I didn't know what had happened or the seriousness of the incident but as soon as I parked I knew to try and see if could help. It was starting to rain so I took over a waterproof coat and blanket I always have and helped to wrap up the inured man.

This isn't the first time this has happened, a few years ago I watched a man fall backwards on to concrete steps and split his head open. Again there were many people there but only 4 of us helped. I have had a lot of first aid training so will use it when I can, I just wonder sometimes why other people would rather watch or wont help.

I am sure many would have done some sort of first aid at work , maybe they will only help in work. Maybe they are afraid of doing something wrong, maybe scared of hurting someone more. The thing is every second really does count, sometimes doing a little bit could save a life.

Putting someone in the recovery position could save their life in many cases. Sometimes a calming face could help someone as well. I recently treated someone who was bleeding heavily and was becoming very agitated and upset. The more upset she got the faster her pulse rose, the more it rose the more she bled. Therefore a large part of the initial first aid was calming her.

While I have done a lot of fire training as well I don't know what degree of fire would make me think twice. I have been trained to not fight a fire bigger then a waste bin size while in work. The idea being the residents I care fore should be saved first. Also another test would be whether to go into a possibly burning room.

The training says that a fire should be kept behind a fire door if possible in order to slow the spread. The decision happens when there is a person trapped with the fire, opening the door could allow rescue but also could cause a rapid spread of a previously contained fire. The fire panel will give you an approximate location of the fire, testing doors for heat might mean you can locate it.

Then your decision is what to do next. This is why the best plan is to get out and call in the experts so they can decide. Tell them where you believe the fire is and if anyone is inside. Despite all my training I don't know what I would do in that case. Give me someone needing cpr or needing severe bleeding stopping every time.

I suppose the best approach is try and be clinical and don't think too hard. Do what you're able and call for help. You might need to take control but hopefully, only briefly . Call for first aiders or for the professionals as soon as you can. Not doing anything can be worse than doing nothing or doing something wrong.

You can talk to someone, hold their hand or just keep them warm. If bleeding try and stop it, if not breathing it gets harder. Get some training and it all becomes much easier. You can switch off from worrying and focus on the basics you need to do.

These occasions can be horrible and scary, the same for those injured or seeing fire. I am not special because I run towards incidents rather then run away. It's just wanting to help and using training. In fact there have been occasions that I have got involved before I realise I am there. Once the adrenalin has gone you can feel good for doing something.