VRFA blotter: fire alarm triggers patient smoking in hospital bathroom

The Valley Regional Fire Authority responded to 292 service calls for the week of May 31 to June 6, 2022 (309 previous blotter). Since the beginning of the year, our professional firefighters in the valley have responded to a total of 6, 6,354 service calls. This is a 7.6% increase from 2021 (5,906).
Service Outage Calls:
242 (83%) were calls for help. Total calls for help in 2022 so far are 5,417 up 6.4% compared to 2021 (5,090).
45 (15%) were fire calls. The number of fire calls is up 16.6%, with 2022 having 828 calls and 2021 having 710.
5 (2%) were calls categorized as other. The number of other calls in 2022 is up 2.8% with 109 calls in 2021 having only 106. “Other” calls include water rescues, water on roads, down lines, hazmat calls and ladder requests.
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Service calls
- Fire: (Auburn) On Monday, May 30 at 1:38 p.m., firefighters responded to a fire behind a residence. On site, the teams discovered that a gas grill had exploded following a gas leak. The explosion caused minor property damage. No injuries were reported.
- Fire Alarm: (Auburn) On Tuesday, May 31 at 5:25 p.m., firefighters responded to a fire alarm at Multicare Auburn Hospital. Investigation revealed that the alarm had been triggered by someone smoking in the bathroom. The alarm was reset with no further issues.
($10 they had an oxygen tank.) - Call for help: (Auburn) On Wednesday, June 1 at 12:23 p.m., firefighters responded to an elderly woman suffering from a possible seizure. Firefighters assessed and stabilized the patient before transporting her to a local hospital for further evaluation.
- Motor Vehicle Crash (Pacific) On Thursday, June 2 at 9:11 p.m., firefighters from VRFA and South King Fire and Rescue responded to an accident involving two vehicles with entrapment. Firefighters arrived to find a patient trapped inside a vehicle in a ditch. The patient was extracted using the “Jaws of Life” and paramedics from King County Medic One transported the patient to MultiCare Auburn Medical Center. Firefighters found another patient with minor injuries and transported him to MultiCare Auburn Medical Center by private ambulance.
- Call for help: (Pacific) On Friday, June 3 at 6:50 p.m., Pacific Police firefighters responded to an adult woman who had overdosed. The patient was assessed at the scene and transported to MultiCare Auburn Medical Center by private ambulance.
(Friendly reminder that an overdose is not automatically an illegal drug.) - Emergency call: (Lea Hill) On Saturday, June 4 at 6:24 p.m., firefighters responded to a man in distress. The male patient was injured by the recoil of a jigsaw blade. The male patient was assessed, wound care provided and packaged for prompt transport to a local emergency department for further care.
(So we’re all clear that’s why I’m not allowed to use power tools. I also don’t have oven privileges anymore, but that’s a story for another day). - Vehicle Fire: (Auburn) On Sunday, June 5 at 9:39 a.m., firefighters were called to report a passenger vehicle fire in a parking lot. Firefighters arrived to find engine bay flames with no exposure. Firefighters quickly extinguished the fire using water from the tank.
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CARE
- 6 answers
- 14 Sponsorships
- 6 new registrations
- 8 registrations closed
- 37 patients in total registered
Community Support, Guidance and Education Services (CARES) is a joint program between VRFA, King County Emergency Medical Services Division, South King Fire & Rescue, Enumclaw and Mountainview Fire and Rescue Services. Each CARES response vehicle is staffed from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. by a firefighter from each department and a social worker. The CARES unit is dispatched on less urgent calls in non-transportable vehicles to provide basic patient assessment, assistance, specific basic life-saving treatment on site and arrange transport if medically necessary. CARES also referred patients to community services when needed.
The above information was provided by VRFA. All ratings included in parentheses should be considered opinions/comments for entertainment purposes only.