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The everyday “Smells and Bells” call saves a life!

July 28, 2019

On Sunday evening the Christiana Fire Company along with mutual aid were alerted for an apartment fire in the Prides Crossing neighborhood. On arrival, no smoke or fire conditions were evident from the outside. Crews entered the building and were able to locate the reported incident apartment. Once in the apartment the crews determined the cause of the alarm and odor to be from a culinary mishap. However, the ladder crew located an adult female on the ground in respiratory arrest. The medical emergency was caused by a pre-existing medical condition and not due to the culinary mishap. The patient was immediately removed by fire crews and turned over to awaiting BLS and ALS crews for further and more advanced care. The smoke in the apartment was then ventilated and the scene was turned over to the building maintenance afterwards. How often are these alarms dismissed as “nothing”, and causes crews to become complacent? This goes to show everything is something until proven otherwise. Thankfully, the patient was cooking at the time of the medical emergency because it undoubtably saved her life.