Wilderness emergency care · Search and rescue · Wildland fire medical operations
Wilderness EMS, search and rescue, and wildland fire medicine
Wilderness emergency medical services (EMS) care for patients where evacuation time, hazards and limited equipment shape every decision. It is a clinical field of its own, with its own evidence base and way of working. It holds care to the same standard as any other setting. The Paramedic Foundation (TPF) writes protocols, designs training frameworks and reviews operations. It does this for wilderness EMS programs, search and rescue (SAR) organizations and wildland fire medical operations.
Wilderness, search and rescue, and wildland fire medicine
TPF works with wilderness EMS programs, SAR organizations and wildland fire medical operations. It provides consulting, protocols, training frameworks and reviews of operations.
Wilderness medicine has its own evidence base, scope-of-practice frameworks and way of working. Wilderness protocols must account for two things. The first is how a patient’s clinical needs change when care lasts a long time. The second is the field itself: rescue timing, the route out, the equipment carried and the handoff to the next level of care. Together, these set what a team can do in the field.
Wildland fire medical operations add more. Hazards keep changing, and medical teams work within incident command. Firefighters on the line need rehabilitation care, and hard terrain raises the risk of mass casualties. TPF can support incident medical planning and medical unit design. It can also help place medical resources within the Incident Command System (ICS).
The specialists TPF calls on know wildland fire work firsthand. One is a doctor who gives EMS medical direction to Bureau of Land Management wildland firefighters in Colorado. Another is a paramedic and sworn peace officer with a county sheriff’s office. He responds to wildfires, search and rescue calls and backcountry emergencies. Others bring years in fire departments and fire-based EMS. The specialists TPF calls on also include wildland firefighters.
Medical protocols for SAR must cover the full range of patients. These include trauma, environmental illness, behavioral health and medical emergencies. Definitive care may be hours away. Rescuer safety is part of every clinical decision.
What TPF provides
Wilderness EMS protocol development and review
SAR medical operations framework design
Wildland fire medical unit planning and ICS integration
Training curriculum and competency framework development
Standards for equipment carried, and formulary guidance
Program evaluation and outcomes measurement
Policy and scope-of-practice analysis
Who this serves
Wilderness EMS programs and medical directors
Mountain rescue and SAR organizations
Federal land management agencies (National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management)
State forestry and fire agencies
County emergency management that covers wilderness areas
Where wilderness EMS sits in TPF’s work
This is one of three practice areas in TPF’s austere and operational medicine area of work. Austere care depends on what a team has on hand, wherever it is. It is the clinical and field problem that comes up when the usual EMS system is absent, overwhelmed or out of reach. That is a different problem from the fragile structure of rural and frontier EMS systems, covered on the rural health page. TPF has both skills and keeps them apart, because protocols written for one fail in the other.
Who this serves. Wilderness EMS programs, search and rescue organizations, federal land management agencies, and wildland fire organizations.
Talk with TPF about wilderness and SAR care
A first consultation is free, with no obligation. If TPF is not the right fit for your work, TPF will tell you so directly.