Two Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) firefighters have helped save the life of a motorist after a road crash at Fairfield West, in Sydney’s south-west.
Station Officers, Stuart Smith and Michael Nguyen, were travelling from FRNSW’s Emergency Services Academy around 4 pm, when they came across the crash scene at a Polding Street roundabout. It appeared an SUV had been clipped and ran into a pole and trees.
FRNSW academy instructors
The officers, both FRNSW academy instructors, quickly tended to the 44-year-old woman in distress
The officers, both FRNSW academy instructors, quickly tended to the 44-year-old woman in distress in the driver’s seat, as she fell unconscious.
The pair moved her to flat ground near the vehicle, opened her airways using a medical aid and began compressions, a defibrillator from their FRNSW car’s Emergency Medical Technicians’ (EMT) kit standing by.
NSW Police Public Order and Riot Squad
A passing NSW Police Public Order and Riot Squad (PORS) unit stopped to help and a fire crew from Cabramatta was also on the scene, minutes later. The two firefighters continued compressions for 10 minutes and the woman slowly regained consciousness.
“When we found her initially unconscious…there was no pulse, she wasn’t breathing, she was unresponsive,” Station Officer Smith recalled, adding “We were able to give her compressions and oxygen…if someone requires that, they’re probably in dire straits.”
FRNSW Emergency Life Support
The experienced firefighters have acknowledged FRNSW’s motto of being ‘Prepared for Anything.’
“She came to but a short time later, lost consciousness again, so we recommenced CPR and when she was revived a second time, we placed her in the recovery position,” said Station Officer Nguyen.
He says their FRNSW Emergency Life Support (ELS) training kicked in, buying valuable time for NSW Ambulance paramedics to arrive and take over, transporting the woman to the hospital. The experienced firefighters have acknowledged FRNSW’s motto of being ‘Prepared for Anything.’
Roadside emergency
“I’m proud of the way all of us were able to help her,” said Station Officer Smith adding, “We performed the same way we would have, had we been on the back of a fire truck.”
It’s not the first life Station Officer Smith has saved during a roadside emergency. He was part of a fire crew that revived a person, critically injured during a motor vehicle crash at Burwood, in Sydney’s inner west, about 10 years ago.
