EXCLUSIVES

EMS Needs a Few More Cowboys

World’s Largest Fire, Rescue and EMS Exhibition Opens in Hannover, Germany

Exclusive coverage of highlights from Interschutz 2015

Wed, Jun 10, 2015

By Daniel Mack, NREMT P & William Doss, EMT P

A small part of the outside display area at Interschutz 2015.

This past Sunday marked the opening of the six-day Interschutz exhibition in Hannover, Germany. Interschutz is considered to be the largest fire, rescue and EMS "fair" in the world. The exhibition is held once every five years and is so large that it's spread throughout six large exhibit halls as well as massive outdoor displays of vehicles and equipment. The immense size of the show makes it almost impossible to see everything in the exhibition's six days.

Although Interschutz is always in Germany, it attracts attendees from around the world. Manufacturers from a large variety of countries come to the exhibition to showcase their newest products and innovations which includes a large array of vehicles of all types. At this year's show, a greater number of companies from outside of Europe are present than in previous years. The majority of these non-European exhibitors are from China, with manufacturers from the Middle East also starting to make their presence known. This adds a new perspective to the show as concepts and ideas from different parts of the world are being showcased.

Over the next few days, we're going to bring you reports on some of the vehicles and equipment on display at the show. To get us started, this first article will touch on the show itself and provide an overview of European EMS systems. This will help those of you unfamiliar with overseas EMS operations to better understand why some of the vehicles and equipment highlighted in the next few days reports were of great interest to many of those visiting the show.

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The European approach to providing out-of-hospital care differs from the U.S. approach in a variety of ways. First, European ambulances, although larger in recent years, still tend to be much smaller than those in the U.S. One reason for this is that ALS-equipped ambulances aren't very common in most areas. Staffing is typically comprised of two BLS-trained personnel. In many countries, ALS care is provided by doctors instead of paramedic-level EMS personnel. For example, throughout Germany emergency physicians have their own response cars stocked with the equipment and medications of their choice. Everything is configured so that the doctor and equipment can be transferred to the ambulance for transport with the patient and BLS personnel.

Ambulance size is also dictated by mission and response area. Many larger European cities have areas with extremely narrow streets that limit the widths of vehicles that can pass. Also, since ambulances are routinely used to transport elderly or disabled patients to medical evaluations, it's common to see small, high top station-wagon-style ambulances in use. These ambulances typically don't respond to 9-1-1 calls, but may be used in MCI or disaster situations.

Another significant difference in ambulance design in Europe is that outside and inside storage is much less than on North American counterparts. This aspect of the vehicles themselves, as well as their staffing configuration, greatly influences the type of equipment carried and how it's carried. It also influences other parts of EMS operations, such as mass casualty incident response and scene support and logistics. In many cases, this has led to the development of very interesting and unique specialized EMS vehicles and equipment. This will be seen in more detail in the following reports.

Stay tuned as we bring you the best of Interschutz 2015!

Assistant Chief Daniel Mack and Firefighter/Paramedic William Doss are with Miami Township Fire & EMS in Cincinnati, Ohio and have a special interest in MCI management and disaster response.

By Daniel Mack, NREMT P & William Doss, EMT P

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