The Babine Forest Products sawmill fire that killed two men and injured 19 in Burns Lake last weekend was real-time test of the B.C. Ambulance Service's fixed-wing early activation system, which will be fully integrated throughout the province by this summer.
Two planes took off from Vancouver to deliver three critical care paramedic teams to Prince George, and several of those paramedics travelled by ambulance care for four critically-injured patients who eventually were sent to hospitals in Edmonton and Vancouver.
"It was a horrible tragedy but I'm very proud of the response of the B.C. healthcare system," said Dan Froom, B.C. Ambulance Service executive director of provincial programs. "Our system worked very well. We had our guys on the ground by midnight, supporting the healthcare system, preparing people for transit, while our BC Bedline peers worked with the health authorities on bed space.
"That's an example of the incredible value of the B.C. Ambulance provincial service delivery system."
A snowstorm and lack of adequate lighting at Burns Lake airport ruled out flying to Burns Lake that night. While Prince George does not have an emergency medical helicopter base, even if there was a helicopter available when the mill exploded last Friday night, Froom said it would have been grounded by the adverse weather.
Six ambulances were used to transport the mill fire victims to several hospitals in the area.
"We landed in Prince George because that's a big airport and we could get in there safely with our teams," Froom said. "We did use some of the Prince George critical care paramedics as well early on, getting out and supporting the system in that call."
Froom said the ramped-up fixed-wing autolaunch service coming on stream will provide better co-ordination of paramedics, air service providers and healthcare professionals.
B.C. looked into Alberta's STARS (Shock, Trauma Air Rescue Society) helicopter rescue methods and determined that in most cases, fixed-wing delivery of critical care patients works better.
Such considerations as the mountainous topography of the province, the distances involved, increased chance of turbulent flights, and the fact both Level 1 trauma hospitals are in Vancouver rules out helicopter transport from remote regions.
The BCAS helicopter service utilizes four helicopters at bases in Greater Vancouver, Kamloops and Prince Rupert and several private helicopter operators.
Although helicopters in Prince George could be available for rescue missions, the paramedics that fly on those missions are not stationed at any helicopter base, as they are at STARS bases, which creates delays in reaching accident scenes.
While its autolaunch activation protocol reduces those delays and sends paramedics in choppers to provide rescues on highways for accident victims near the BCAS bases, Froom, a former air-vac paramedic, admits those roadside evacuations do not happen near northern B.C. cities like Prince George.
"We don't, not there, and it's about the availability of systems to do that," said Froom. "Based on very specific criteria, they will send our critical care paramedics in the helicopter and arrive on the scene for bad car accidents. That's based on [having] the dedicated machine, with the dedicated teams and the frequency of call, that justifies that expense."
See today's Saturday Report on page 17 for a detailed look at the STARS air ambulance system.
