NFD Responding To Major Medical Calls
The Newberry Fire Department is now responding to major medical calls in the City of Newberry. Fire Chief Gene Shealy said their department wants to provide the community with the best service they can give them.
Shealy said throughout the years the fire service had truly evolved. Whereas in the past, calls run were mostly fire suppression, they had advanced to being able to provide other services to include hazmat, technical rescue, vehicle extrication and more to meet the needs of the community.
In September 2024, Shealy said all members of the department were trained to the emergency medical responder level of training through the South Carolina Fire Academy. This involved 60 hours of training in addition to their first aid and CPR training already obtained.
Shealy said while their department is not a transport agency nor are they paramedics or EMT’s, they are a basic first responder department that can offer basic care to patients until EMS arrives on scene.
With an aging population in Newberry, Shealy said major medical calls at any time require a larger response – whether that be cardiac arrests or unresponsive patients.
“Many calls often require more hands on scene,” Shealy said. “We want to strengthen our relationship with EMS and Newberry Rescue Squad to ensure that our citizens are getting the best treatment and best service.”
Since their training, Shealy said they have assisted in mutual aid response with EMS on a variety of major medical calls. One particular call, he said, resulted in the saving of a life.
“We responded to a patient not breathing. Their life saving actions assisted in the patient regaining vitals before being air lifted,” he said.
Shealy said together with the Newberry County EMS Director, they developed a dispatch policy for automatic dispatch on certain medical calls.
“As of March (2025), the Newberry Fire Department is automatically dispatched to any cardiac arrest, major trauma or unresponsive patient,” he said. “We are also dispatched to any major medical event any time that there is not a medical unit inside the city available.”
While the department is excited to be able to assist on additional medical calls, Shealy reminds the community that the Newberry Fire Department is still a suppression and rescue priority department, with medical response coming second.
“If we’re tied up on a suppression or rescue call, we may not be able to respond to the medical call,” he said.
Shealy said his staff was willing and trained to help anyone in need anytime.
Greg Kitchens, director of Newberry County EMS said they were extremely grateful for this partnership with Shealy and each member of the Newberry Fire Department and looked forward to building on this relationship by working and training together.
“Newberry County EMS has always enjoyed a very good relationship with the City of Newberry Fire Department,” Kitchens said. “By training all of their firefighters as Emergency Medical Responders, they have shown a strong commitment to ensuring that the citizens and visitors of Newberry are receiving a prompt response with qualified personnel in times of crisis, especially when our EMS resources are overwhelmed due to high call volume.”
The Newberry Fire Department is now responding to major medical calls in the City of Newberry. Fire Chief Gene Shealy said their department wants to provide the community with the best service they can give them.
Shealy said throughout the years the fire service had truly evolved. Whereas in the past, calls run were mostly fire suppression, they had advanced to being able to provide other services to include hazmat, technical rescue, vehicle extrication and more to meet the needs of the community.
In September 2024, Shealy said all members of the department were trained to the emergency medical responder level of training through the South Carolina Fire Academy. This involved 60 hours of training in addition to their first aid and CPR training already obtained.
Shealy said while their department is not a transport agency nor are they paramedics or EMT’s, they are a basic first responder department that can offer basic care to patients until EMS arrives on scene.
With an aging population in Newberry, Shealy said major medical calls at any time require a larger response – whether that be cardiac arrests or unresponsive patients.
“Many calls often require more hands on scene,” Shealy said. “We want to strengthen our relationship with EMS and Newberry Rescue Squad to ensure that our citizens are getting the best treatment and best service.”
Since their training, Shealy said they have assisted in mutual aid response with EMS on a variety of major medical calls. One particular call, he said, resulted in the saving of a life.
“We responded to a patient not breathing. Their life saving actions assisted in the patient regaining vitals before being air lifted,” he said.
Shealy said together with the Newberry County EMS Director, they developed a dispatch policy for automatic dispatch on certain medical calls.
“As of March (2025), the Newberry Fire Department is automatically dispatched to any cardiac arrest, major trauma or unresponsive patient,” he said. “We are also dispatched to any major medical event any time that there is not a medical unit inside the city available.”
While the department is excited to be able to assist on additional medical calls, Shealy reminds the community that the Newberry Fire Department is still a suppression and rescue priority department, with medical response coming second.
“If we’re tied up on a suppression or rescue call, we may not be able to respond to the medical call,” he said.
Shealy said his staff was willing and trained to help anyone in need anytime.
Greg Kitchens, director of Newberry County EMS said they were extremely grateful for this partnership with Shealy and each member of the Newberry Fire Department and looked forward to building on this relationship by working and training together.
“Newberry County EMS has always enjoyed a very good relationship with the City of Newberry Fire Department,” Kitchens said. “By training all of their firefighters as Emergency Medical Responders, they have shown a strong commitment to ensuring that the citizens and visitors of Newberry are receiving a prompt response with qualified personnel in times of crisis, especially when our EMS resources are overwhelmed due to high call volume.”
