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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the
3 State of Illinois wish to honor all fire fighters and emergency
4 medical technicians for the service they provide in responding
5 to emergencies throughout the State; and
 
6     WHEREAS, The three main goals in firefighting are (in
7 order) life safety, incident stabilization, and property
8 conservation; firefighting is an inherently dangerous
9 occupation; as such, the skills required for safe operations
10 are regularly practiced during training evolutions throughout
11 a fire fighter's career; in the United States, the preeminent
12 fire training and standards organization is the National Fire
13 Protection Association (NFPA); often initial firefighting
14 skills are taught during a local, regional, or state approved
15 fire academy; depending on the requirements of a department,
16 additional skills and certifications such as technical rescue
17 and Paramedicine may also be taught at this time; and
 
18     WHEREAS, Firefighters work closely with other emergency
19 response agencies, most particularly local and state police
20 departments; as every fire scene is technically a crime scene
21 until deemed otherwise by a qualified investigator, there is
22 often overlap between the responsibilities of responding
23 firefighters and police officers such as evidence and scene

 

 

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1 protection, initial observations of first respondents, and
2 chain of evidence issues; the increasing role of firefighters
3 in providing emergency medical services also brings
4 firefighters into common overlap with law enforcement; one
5 example of this is a common state law requiring all gunshot
6 wounds to be reported to law enforcement agencies; and
 
7     WHEREAS, Most career (full time, paid) firefighters in
8 North America are represented by the International Association
9 of Fire Fighters; and
 
10     WHEREAS, Fire fighting has several basic skills:
11 prevention, self preservation, rescue, preservation of
12 property and fire control; firefighting is further broken down
13 into skills which include size-up, extinguishment,
14 ventilation, and salvage and overhaul; search and rescue, is
15 performed early in any fire scenario and many times is in
16 unison with extinguishment and ventilation; and
 
17     WHEREAS, Emergency Medical Technicians are trained in
18 practical emergency medical knowledge and skills that can be
19 deployed within a rapid time frame; patient treatment
20 guidelines are described in protocols following both national
21 guidelines and local medical policies; the goal of EMT
22 intervention is to rapidly evaluate a patient's condition and
23 to maintain a patient's airway, breathing and circulation by

 

 

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1 CPR and defibrillation; in addition, EMT intervention aims to
2 control external bleeding, prevent shock, and prevent further
3 injury or disability by immobilizing potential spinal or other
4 bone fractures, while expediting the safe and timely transport
5 of the patient to a hospital emergency department for
6 definitive medical care; therefore, be it
 
7     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
8 NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
9 honor the firefighters and EMTs of Illinois for the heroic
10 service they provide.