Palm Beach County Fire Rescue presents annual report to Wellington council; highlights whole‑blood first response and traffic preemption

Palm Beach County Fire Rescue presented its annual report to the Village of Wellington council on March 24, describing operations and recent program additions that affect local emergency response.

The department said it responded to roughly 6,863 calls in the fiscal year (about 4,40 more than the prior year in the transcript), with roughly 73% of that volume classified as emergency medical calls. The department reported 3,749 transports and cited counts of trauma alerts, STEMI (heart attack) alerts, stroke alerts and sepsis alerts. In customer‑service surveys of Wellington residents (126 respondents), the presenter reported a 100% overall satisfaction rating among those surveyed.

New operational capabilities include traffic signal preemption along major corridors to improve response times, and expanded prehospital care: crews now carry whole blood and plasma (10 EMS captains carry plasma, seven carry plasma and whole blood; Trauma Hawk aircraft also carry blood products). The urban search and rescue team was upgraded to a Type 3 team, adding equipment, two canine teams, an emergency medical physician for field operations and a structural engineer.

Council members thanked the department and asked about the department’s role in specialized rescues, including a recent horse rescue from a canal; the presenter described the tripod harnessing system used to extract the animal and reported the horse named Thomas was uninjured. Residents also submitted technical comments and suggestions during the presentation.

Council praised the department’s partnership with the village and acknowledged its role in hurricane response, urban search and rescue and community outreach.