This week's Monday Night Drill was a "Mayday Operations" drill for our Firefighters and a "Assisting the EMT" drill for our EMTs.

The "Mayday Operations" drill had our Vista Firefighters reviewing how to perform a mayday, how to properly call a mayday on an emergency scene and then we tested our Firefighters by having them call a "mayday" in a practical scenario by using F.A.S.T. (Firefighter assist and search team) skills. Vista Firefighters reviewed several different packaging techniques on how to prepare a Firefighter for removal followed by extrication techniques to remove the downed Firefighter safely from the incident. A "mayday" is a procedure to utilize when Firefighters find themselves in a position of imminent danger or where immediate communication is necessary to protect life or prevent injury.

The "Assisting the EMT" drill had our Vista EMS personnel reviewing how to properly support the lead EMT on an emergency scene. Vista EMS personnel also practiced how to gather patient information when acting as an attendant and they reviewed on scene priorities & objectives during an EMS call. This type of training helped define the roles of a lead EMT, attendant and ambulance driver for most EMS incidents.

If you are interested in being part of our team at the Vista FD, visit us any Monday night from 6:30pm - 9:30pm for more details or click the "Become a Member" tab at VistaFD.org!