What to Expect When You Call 911

When you place a 911 call, it goes to Boulder County Dispatch, which calls out the Gold Hill Fire Department (GHFD), the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office and American Medical Response (AMR) ambulance. This call goes out to all of the agencies at the same time, for both medical and fire emergencies.

A Sheriff’s Officer will respond to all 911 calls to provide scene safety. Depending on the 911 call, the scene may need to be cleared for safety by the Sheriff’s Officer prior to the GHFD entering.

The GHFD responds to 911 medical emergencies and provides Basic Life Support on scene. Basic Life Support includes, but is not limited to; heart defibrillation, bleeding control, help with breathing issues, fracture stabilization and care for any medical issue like diabetic emergencies, for example. The GHFD carries oxygen and can assist a patient with nitroglycerine, MD Inhalers, aspirin, oral glucose and epinephrine auto injectors.

The GHFD functions under the strict protocols of Boulder County and under a Boulder Community Hospital Physician Adviser, Doctor Todd Dorfman.

The GHFD First Responders will typically arrive on scene in under 10 minutes. AMR will arrive on scene within 15-30 minutes of receiving the 911 call, depending on where the emergency is in the GHFD Service Area. AMR, not the GHFD will provide Advanced Life Support and transport the victim to the hospital, if needed.

The GHFD has mutual aid agreements with all agencies in Boulder County that respond on emergencies, but require GHFD to request assistance from those agencies. This includes assistance in search and rescue, swift water rescue, search dogs, SWAT etc. The GHFD has an auto-aid agreement with both Sunshine Fire and Four Mile Fire departments, which means they will be toned automatically to aid in calls closer to those fire districts. 

The fire department can place a request for early shut down that will tell responders to turn off sirens prior to arrival, if this is prudent.

A competent patient can refuse transport by AMR, even if AMR does a patient assessment on scene. AMR will have a patient refusal form to sign. If the competent patient refuses transport, they can arrange for someone to transport them to the hospital. That driver must follow all traffic rules! If you ask someone to take you to the hospital, depending on your condition, you may be putting yourself and/or the person transporting you at risk. There is spotty cell phone coverage in the mountains and a cell phone may not work. If the patient’s condition gets worse in transport it could result in irreversible health issues or death.

Never hesitate to call 911; it could be a matter of life or death.

Leslie Finn       finn.leslie@nullgmail.com