Range Injuries: Making the 911 Call

Chris Cypert of Citizens Defense Research and I teamed up for this video on making 911 calls in the event of a range injury or accident.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4NO-4XQ2qI

BTDT

I don't know what was said on the phone or what prior arrangements had been made, but when I collapsed - not wounded - at a match at Brock's Gap, Hoover, Alabama, response was fast and effective. All I saw was the ambulance and crew but I was told later that a fire engine was there, too; no doubt for FD paramedic support. Nobody said anything about a police presence, I was certainly not interviewed there or later.

Pre-match announcements included identification of people with first aid expertise and equipment, and volunteers to man the range gate and road intersections.

So the first thing I saw after my concerned squad mates was an actual Army medic.

I am a first responder, firefighter/medic, Engineer that sometimes acts as the company officer on our rig and have responded to GSW calls and would like to give my point of view. I don't have a gun range in my first due.

You are correct about the 911 operator gathering information and how we respond is going to be determined by this information. Also, policy and SOG/Ps are going to dictate response. Our SOG states that we stage until LEO has cleared the scene on any GSW. As company officer I have the discretion to take what information I have been given and act accordingly. If we were dispatched to an "accidental GSW at ABC gun range" We are going to get on the rig and roll in hot and probably not think twice about it, per SOG but I can stage away and wait for LEO to clear the scene per SOG, my call. Our dispatchers will tell us what is going on once we check in route. In your scenario it would sound like this "engine, we have the caller from ABC gun range and they state they had a ND during class. The range has been cleared and weapons secured. You will have a x year old male with a single gsw to the leg. You will have personnel guiding you in". You are going to have some officers that will follow the SOG to the letter regardless of what information that have been given. Your responding agency may not have any leeway to deviate from SOGs like I do. None of that is wrong.

I have had calls where all the dispatcher got was "omg he's been shot", staged on that one and I have had hang nails that was worse. I have staged and got the all clear from LEO and come to find out the shooter was still on scene while we were treating the patient. My truck responded to one just the other day, they went on in because they had good information that the shooter had fled the scene.

The more "good" information you provide they better we can make our decisions.

I recommend that you reach out to the responding agencies and do a "preplan". We have preplanned every commercial building mainly for fire but doing so allows us to figure out what to do for other types of emergencies we may respond to.