Firefighters save the life of injured motorist - Fairfield West
Published: 02 Jul 2024 02:45pm
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 4pm yesterday 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.
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.
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.
“We were able to give her compressions and oxygen…if someone requires that, they’re probably in dire straits,” he said.
“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,” Station Officer Nguyen said.
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 hospital.
The experienced firefighters have acknowledged FRNSW’s motto of being ‘Prepared for Anything.’
“I’m proud of the way all of us were able to help her,” Station Officer Smith added, “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.
Updated: 02 Jul 2024 02:49pm
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Stations nearby
875 The Horsley Drive, Smithfield - Fire Station NSW 2164
100 St Johns Rd, Cabramatta NSW 2166
198 Fairfield Road, Yennora NSW 2161