Ken Henson, a D/FW Airport firefighter and paramedic, said the 2-year-old Station 5 is much better located for responding to medical emergencies in the passenger terminals. The station was dedicated in memory of public safety personnel who died on 9-11.
On the second anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, Dallas/Fort Worth Airport dedicated its Department of Public Safety Station 5 in memory of those who died in the line of duty in New York.
The centrally located station on the International Parkway access road was intended to improve emergency response times to the terminals.
If a catastrophe occurred, the officers of Station 5 would be the first to respond.
"That's what drove the decision to build the station," D/FW Fire Chief Alan Black said. "When we started to build the new international terminal, it fell on our coattails to get serious about the station."
The Federal Aviation Administration mandates that an airport response team be able to reach the midpoint of any runway in three minutes. For that reason, the first four stations at D/FW were built along the airport's perimeter.
"I came from Station 1, and I can tell you it did take quite a bit more time to get to the terminals," said Ken Henson, a firefighter and paramedic who is now on the Station 5 crew.
From the beginning, it was understood that Station 5 would be a high-volume assignment -- 80 percent of medical emergencies at D/FW, such as heart attacks, occur in the central terminal area, said Alvy Dodson, D/FW vice president of public safety.
Before Aug. 31, 2003, the average response time to the terminals was four minutes, 26 seconds. With Station 5 on line, the time is now three minutes, 14 seconds.
Before, the average time to deploy heavy emergency equipment was five minutes, 3 seconds. Now it's three minutes, 20 seconds, officials said.
Particularly from a medical standpoint, response times are crucial. Brain damage can occur within the first four minutes of being deprived of oxygen, according to the American Heart Association. Anything over six minutes, and damage will probably be irreversible.
"Seconds equate to lives," Black said. "If I can get there in 3:14, that potential of brain damage is 27 percent reduced."
D/FW emergency responders take 3,000 calls each year. Those include about 30 cases that require cardiopulmonary resuscitation, Black said. All 166 firefighters at D/FW have been trained up to the emergency medical technician level. There are also 28 paramedics with advanced training.
That doesn't mean everyone with a medical emergency can be saved at the terminal, but most now have a better chance.
"What all this equates to is we're getting the necessary equipment and manpower on the scene to handle the situation more quickly," Dodson said. "It makes a huge difference."
4 MINUTES, 26 SECONDS
The average response time to the terminals before Aug. 31, 2003.
3 MINUTES, 14 SECONDS
The response time with Station 5 on line.
Why the minutes matter:
4 MINUTES
Time without oxygen before brain damage can occur.
6 MINUTES
The point at which the damage will probably be irreversible.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press
