By Shaughn Maxwell, Captain
Medical Services Officer

PHOTO COURTESY OF SNOHOMISH FIRE Members of Snohomish County Fire District 1.

EVERETT, Wash. — On a fall morning Snohomish County Fire District 1 received an emergency call from two children saying that their mother was unconscious. Fire District 1 responded with an ALS Ladder, Medic Unit and an MSO (EMS Supervisor). On arrival we found two young children downstairs stating that their mother was upstairs in the bathroom.

The mother was found unconscious but breathing with signs of seizure activity. As she was moved into a bedroom, one of the firefighter/paramedics noted a very faint odor of exhaust. After ~5 minutes in the house, other firefighters started to complain of headaches. The house was searched and it was discovered that the family car was running inside the closed garage which was located directly below the upstairs bedroom.

The RAD-57 was retrieved from the MSO unit and placed on the patient. Her initial CO reading was 80% (MANUFACTURER NOTE: THE RAD-57 ACCURACY IS SPECIFIED TO A RANGE OF 0-40%). The 4 gas meter read 400ppm inside the bedroom.  The firefighter/paramedics evacuated the patient and the rest of the family from the residence. The children were evaluated with the RAD-57 and found to have very low levels of CO.

Inside the medic unit the patient was RSI’ed and transported to an emergency room 20 minutes away. Later, the patient’s CO level on the RAD-57 had dropped to 37% and the blood gas CO-oximeter level came back at 36%. While still at the hospital, the firefighters who had been in the house checked their own CO levels with the RAD-57. Additionally the Battalion Chief, who carries our second RAD-57, responded to the station where the ladder is housed to evaluate those firefighters for CO exposure. Our responders did have a mild CO exposure; however we did not have to place any units out of service. The Battalion Chief returned to the station a few hours later to assure that the crew’s CO levels had dropped to normal.

The RAD-57 helped to quickly, and with certainty, diagnosis a very sick patient.  By knowing the identity and severity of what we were dealing with, it allowed us to provide treatment for the carbon monoxide poisoning much more effectively than if we weren’t able to measure for CO. 

Snohomish County Fire District 1 is located 20 miles north of Seattle along the I-5 corridor. We serve a community of 160,000 Snohomish County residents including the cities of Mountlake Terrace and Brier. Fire District 1 has eight stations which respond to over 13,000 calls a year with 150 firefighters. Fire District 1 is a full service department including a hazmat and rescue team. Additionally, Fire District 1 responds with a paramedic on almost every unit and does all BLS and ALS transports.

We originally bought 2 RAD-57s to monitor our own firefighters during fire rehab; however in reality they are used mainly for EMS responses.  One is on the battalion chief’s unit and the other is on the Medical Services Officer’s unit (EMS Supervisor).