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Just caught a dispatch for Seattle Fire of an MCI: Busload of people (24 patients i believe) East Lake Washington Blvd. Bus was into something, not sure what though. Ops is on SFD A-1

http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/ ... d994c.html

Not really an MCI, big incident yes. 14 yellow and 1 green patients is what I initially heard and that was likely downgraded since no serious injuries were reported.

To get an MCI you need something like a Costco to implode on an early evening. :shock:

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I taste copper.
Comments, views, opinions - and trails of destruction - are my own.

I would disagree with KD7SMX!

Mass Casuality Incident: Incident where the number of victims is determined to be beyond the capabillities of the first alarm assigned to that type of incident or for dispatching purposes any reported incident where 5-10 patients are involved. Or any amount of patients that overwelms your departments resourses.

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Realistic Patrolman PRO-48, Uniden BC-800XLT, Radio Shack PRO-2018, Uniden BC-895XLT, Uniden BC-245XLT, RCA RP-6100,
Realistic PRO-2006, Uniden BR330T, Uniden BCT15X

That's quite a bit smaller than the scenarios I played dead for when I was volunteering but your definition makes sense.

_________________
I taste copper.
Comments, views, opinions - and trails of destruction - are my own.

SFD Units dispatched to MCI at 2100 Lake Washington Blvd. East

A14, A25, B2, B5, Dep1, E21, E22, E34, L10, L7, M1, M10, M44, MCI1, R1, Safety2, Staff10,

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Realistic Patrolman PRO-48, Uniden BC-800XLT, Radio Shack PRO-2018, Uniden BC-895XLT, Uniden BC-245XLT, RCA RP-6100,
Realistic PRO-2006, Uniden BR330T, Uniden BCT15X

A14 A25 B2 B5 DEP1 E22 E34 L10 L7 M10 M44 R1 SAFT2 STAF10
These were the initial units dispatched to the Multiple Casualty Incident at 6:23 pm

M1 and MCI1 were dispatched at 6:35 pm
B5 at 6:36 pm
E21 at 6:38 pm

From when I volunteered I wasn't thinking units but rather patients. 15 seemed small, but apparently not.

_________________
I taste copper.
Comments, views, opinions - and trails of destruction - are my own.

MCI was the original dispatch..that I heard. :D In this case the bus driver is waaaaaaaaay lucky no one lost thier heads.. Its not like it was a couple of inches difference. It was 2FT!

That one went to the scene. It's an MCI in my book!

what does a yellow and green patient mean ? Listening to the scanner over here in SnoCo and there is a two semi truck crash on I-5 near everett mall way, 1 fatality. Looks like a DUI, I heard an everett pd officer say they needed another unit to take a person from the crash to get a legal blood draw. Person must have refused. Should be interesting when more details come out on the news, they are pretty slow at getting details.

The triage designation is based on a color system. You place a triage tag on each victim and tear off the colors until the color at the bottom matches the victim’s classification.

Black – deceased
Red – immediate
Yellow – delayed
Green – minor

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Rob
N7LXI - Seattle

You did not explain who gets what color.

Red (Immediate / Critical ) Able to maintain own airway, Respiratory rate below 10 or greater then 30, Capillary refill greater then 2 seconds, unable to follow simple commands.

Yellow (Delayed / Serious ) Cannot walk, Resp. Rate 10-30, Radial pulse present, able to follow simple commands.

Green (Minor / Stable ) patients who may have treatment and or transport delayed. Able to walk

Black ( Deceased ) Patient who are already dead or so severely injuried that death is certain.

White ( Decontaminated) They have another color assigned but was involved in a Haz-Mat so they were deconed prior to being transported to a hospital.

_________________
Realistic Patrolman PRO-48, Uniden BC-800XLT, Radio Shack PRO-2018, Uniden BC-895XLT, Uniden BC-245XLT, RCA RP-6100,
Realistic PRO-2006, Uniden BR330T, Uniden BCT15X

thank you guys for the response, that was very helpful information. I do not believe I've ever heard a code black over the scanner, just expired and DOA.

I thought I'd just throw my two-cents in regarding what an MCI actually is.

The person who explained that an MCI is any incident with multiple patients, where the initial companies are overwhelmed by either the number of patients or the severity of their injuries, is pretty-much correct.

Let me throw this your way. Which of the following is an MCI:

-A MVA (Motor Vehicle Accident) with 10 yellow (minor) patients?

-A MVA with three red (critical) patients and two yellow patients?

-A shooting with three victims?

-A bus full of highschool softball players who crash into a low-rise overpass, resulting in many minor injuries?

The answer is all of them are MCI's. The thing to keep in mind is that MCI does NOT stand for MASS CASUALTY INCIDENT, it stands for MULTIPLE CASUALTY INCIDENT. Take another look at the SFD MCI-1 image. It doesn't say "MASS".

Keep in mind, one red (critical) patient will require significant manpower for treatment. Usually, in smaller MCI's, one medic unit (with two paramedics) and one BLS company (2-4 FF/EMT's) will be needed to care for one single red patient.

The presenece of more than one red patient at an emergency scene really changes the dynamics of the incident. Additional red patients exponentially (sp?) change the incident as well.

The King County Fire Chiefs have adopted a regional MCI plan that stipulates how MCI's are handled in KC. Further, departments can adopt the KC MCI response matrix that spell-out how many and what types of units are dispatched to a declared MCI. In Zone-3 (South King County), Valleycom dispatchers are even allowed to initiate a level-1 MCI response on an initial dispatch.

The response for a 1-9 Patient MCI is as follows:

(4) BLS units (Aid, Engine or Ladder)
(2) ALS Units (medics)
1 MSO (Medical Services Officer)
1 Battalion Chief
(5) Transport Ambulances

The other MCI levels, being 10-19 Patients, 20-29, 30-39, and so on add double and tripple the amount of units to the call. Once you get past thirty though, you then have Strike Teams and Task Forces from other King County Zones added to the MCI incident.

The 1-9 MCI response is the most commonly used response for MCI's, because most fall within that category.

Interestingly, some Zone-1 Departments (North/Northeast King County) and Seattle Fire declined to utilize the MCI response matrix. They prefer to use other response plans for their MCI's, however Seattle has a couple of rescue responses that are somewhat close. they have "Rescue Automobile" and "Heavy Rescue" response lists that they use on a regular basis. Their MCI reponse is seen pretty infrequently on their live CAD feed.

In any case, it's used much more in South King County.

13 units seems a bit skimpy for 9 paitents, but that's just me. If you add it up though it comes out to 14-18 EMS personnel to at most 9 patients (not including AMR or whoever is transporting). Worst case would be 1.5:1 and best case 3:1. Personally I think the matrix should be broken down by 5s, but I have no idea what the average number of paitients is, and also, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.