Why do you send a fire engine when I called for an ambulance?

The Franklin Fire Department operates the emergency ambulance services, with all of our staff having some degree of emergency medical training, most certified at the paramedic level. During a medical emergency minutes, in fact seconds count! The response of the closest emergency vehicle to your emergency brings trained firefighter EMT's and paramedics to your home within minutes. Emergency life saving equipment such as oxygen, semi-automatic defibrillator and other medical equipment are carried on the fire engine for use by these trained firefighters. Additional staff on a fire engine also provides rapid assistance in cases it is necessary to have extra trained personnel to assist in moving stretchers through buildings, particularly when stairways or slippery conditions are encountered. This helps to reduce to department personnel handling unwieldy stretchers and heavy patients. It is also necessary to have more than two people perform certain treatments such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation and other advanced life support functions while moving a patient. At traffic accidents the fire engine personnel assist in keeping the area safe if there are fuel spills, and help in extricating the person from the wreckage.