Methuen Fire Department Ambulance 2, with two EMTs on board, arrived at
8:07 p.m. and established a multi-casualty Incident (MCI) command post at the main
guard station. As they began to triage the numerous injured workers who were arriving
there, Ambulance 2 advised the responding ALS unit (P-2) they had 15 to 20 injured,
some with serious burns.
At 8:13 p.m. P-2 arrived and one paramedic became EMS Command while the
other took over Triage Officer responsibilities. They quickly requested more ambulances
and helicopters, in addition to their initial request for 10 ambulances and 2
helicopters. In addition to dispatching additional EMS units, CMED contacted the
area hospitals, as well as regional burn centers and trauma centers. The hospitals were
told of the situation and asked the number of critical care beds available, so that
CMED would be able to assign transporting ambulances to hospitals with the proper
resources available.
The EMS response included 25 ambulances, many from the fire departments in
Massachusetts and New Hampshire that also assisted with fire suppression. Four medical
helicopters were used to transport the most critically injured patients to burn centers
in the Boston area.
As additional EMS resources arrived, they were assigned to treatment and staging
positions. The ambulance staging area was designated as the south side of Stafford Street east of the guard station. This allowed for the passage of other emergency vehicles
to conduct fire suppression operations as the MCI was in full swing. The main
guard station was used for triage and treatment, as it was indoors and away from the
cold weather and the fire scene. As patients were ready for transport, the next ambulance
would drive up to the east side of the building to load, then exit through the parking
area to Broadway Street.
The first critically burned patients to be transported left the scene by ambulance
at 8:32 p.m. At 8:41 p.m. the first helicopter arrived and a landing zone was set up in
the parking lot immediately north of the guard station. Due to wind-driven smoke
obscuring the landing zone, all subsequent helicopter transports were made from local
hospitals to burn and trauma centers after the patients had been removed from the scene
by ambulance. No other helicopters landed at the scene.
Most of the EMS activity at the scene took place during the first hour, as all of the injured
employees were transported from the scene within 67 minutes of the initial call. A total of 27
employees were transported, 12 with critical burns. During this time one injured firefighter was also
treated and transported. The EMS command structure and triage operation were winding down
while the fire suppression operation was still expanding.
After all of the injured employees had been transported, the EMS command
structure was reassigned to manage the Rehabilitation Sector. Rehab operated in the
main guard station until 11:20 p.m., then moved to the southeast corner of the parking
area to get farther away from the fire. A Red Cross canteen was also located in the parking
lot. Eleven ambulances and one ALS unit were held to assist with Rehab and several
relatively minor firefighter injuries were treated.
Four ambulances and their personnel were also used to assist with evacuation of
the residential area immediately east of the fire area and an ambulance was sent to the
Annis Street exposure fire to stand-by.
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