The Vista Fire Department would like to congratulate District Manager Tom Ritchey on completing the "Active Shooter/Hostile Event Awareness and Practical Skills" class at the Westchester County Fire Training Center in Valhalla, New York.

"Active Shooter/Hostile Event Awareness and Practical Skills" class is a 6-hour course described as the following:

"Active Shooter/Hostile Event (ASHE) incidents are often unpredictable, evolve rapidly and have substantial consequences. In an effort to respond in an effective and safe manner a collaborative approach must be developed. Public expectation of our emergency response community is that we will immediately respond with a well-developed and exercised plan to stop the killing and immediately care for those who are injured. The course will include a directed discussion related to current practices with an emphasis on developing a local integrated response (PD, FD, EMS) plan.Discussion related to the benefits of fire and EMS personnel preplanning ways to assist law enforcement during an event along with reviewing current and future training programs, equipment availability and best practices in taking the next steps in preparedness.

This awareness level program is designed to provide:
• A brief history of incidents that have occurred locally and nationally
• Common terminology utilized across police, fire and EMS personnel in Westchester County when responding to and operating at an ASHE incident
• The Incident Command Structure at an ASHE incident, what it should look like, as well as the importance of setting up a staging area quickly for the assets and resources responding to the scene
• An understanding of basic triage of all emergency responders
• Bleeding and hemorrhage control concepts and practical skills including tourniquets, hemostatic agents and chest seals
• Patient packaging and movement; an overview of the many different lift and carry devices used around the county including practical skills"

All training is free of charge to the members of the Vista Fire Department and Volunteers are needed! Please visit VistaFD.org for more details on how you can join our team!