#Fairfield CT–On Wednesday, October 18th the Cambridge Health and Rehabilitation Center, located at 2428 Easton Turnpike in Fairfield conducted a fire drill along with the Fairfield Fire Department. Deputy Chief Kyran Dunn told me that the federal government mandated that health care faculties need to improve their emergency management activities. Many facilities have been calling the fire department to find out how they can improve their planning. Dunn said the drills not only benefit the facilities but also the fire department’s operations. The fire department had to contingents, one for the facility and one for them. Dunn said the drills are manpower intensive whereas they physically stretch hose lines, find the locations and all the other “nuts and bolts” they have to deal with. He said there were lessons learned and look to improve operations. Other healthcare facilities to observe which can help with community-wide knowledge.

The firefighters made real emergencies look easy but it is because of drills like this that keep them sharp. They also train for water emergencies, hazardous materials incidents as well as medical responses and working with American Medical Response (AMR).