HR0168 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0168 LRB095 11460 MST 32423 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the State of Illinois wish to honor all fire fighters and emergency medical technicians for the service they provide in responding to emergencies throughout the State; and

WHEREAS, The three main goals in firefighting are (in order) life safety, incident stabilization, and property conservation; firefighting is an inherently dangerous occupation; as such, the skills required for safe operations are regularly practiced during training evolutions throughout a fire fighter's career; in the United States, the preeminent fire training and standards organization is the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA); often initial firefighting skills are taught during a local, regional, or state approved fire academy; depending on the requirements of a department, additional skills and certifications such as technical rescue and Paramedicine may also be taught at this time; and

WHEREAS, Firefighters work closely with other emergency response agencies, most particularly local and state police departments; as every fire scene is technically a crime scene until deemed otherwise by a qualified investigator, there is often overlap between the responsibilities of responding firefighters and police officers such as evidence and scene protection, initial observations of first respondents, and chain of evidence issues; the increasing role of firefighters in providing emergency medical services also brings firefighters into common overlap with law enforcement; one example of this is a common state law requiring all gunshot wounds to be reported to law enforcement agencies; and

WHEREAS, Most career (full time, paid) firefighters in North America are represented by the International Association of Fire Fighters; and

WHEREAS, Fire fighting has several basic skills: prevention, self preservation, rescue, preservation of property and fire control; firefighting is further broken down into skills which include size-up, extinguishment, ventilation, and salvage and overhaul; search and rescue, is performed early in any fire scenario and many times is in unison with extinguishment and ventilation; and

WHEREAS, Emergency Medical Technicians are trained in practical emergency medical knowledge and skills that can be deployed within a rapid time frame; patient treatment guidelines are described in protocols following both national guidelines and local medical policies; the goal of EMT intervention is to rapidly evaluate a patient's condition and to maintain a patient's airway, breathing and circulation by CPR and defibrillation; in addition, EMT intervention aims to control external bleeding, prevent shock, and prevent further injury or disability by immobilizing potential spinal or other bone fractures, while expediting the safe and timely transport of the patient to a hospital emergency department for definitive medical care; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we honor the firefighters and EMTs of Illinois for the heroic service they provide.