Members of the Banks and Springhill fire departments attended a Stop the Bleed certification class held by Shady Grove Tactical, LLC on Saturday.

Jacob Fannin, Shady Grove Tactical, said the firefighters learned how to apply tourniquets and pack junctional wounds as a result of life-threatening bleeding.

“This curriculum was developed by the American College of Surgeons and Department of Homeland Security following the Sandy Hook shooting,” Fannin said. “Active shooter training is very commonplace in today’s society. The initiative of the Stop the Bleed program is to empower citizens, firefighters, and police officers with the knowledge and tools they need to be a first care provider should they encounter the results of an active shooter, active aggressor, or terrorist attack.”

Fannin said the classes are tailored toward the layperson or civilian and local emergency response personnel.

“With basic knowledge of tourniquet application, wound packing and basic airway management, the average citizen has the ability to dramatically affect the long-term outcome of a victim who has been shot or stabbed,” he said. “The average adult can bleed to death within one to three minutes or less. The first person on scene of an emergency oftentimes is a civilian. With the ability to immediately treat a trauma victim, unnecessary deaths can be prevented.”

Fannin said the initial reactions in an event such as an active shooter are to run, hide, fight.

“But when the fighting is done, you could have people lying there bleeding to death,” Fannin said. “Those who know how to apply tourniquets and pack wounds could save lives. And this does not have to be an active shooter kind of event. It could be a motor vehicle accident, a farming accident, a hunting accident or an industrial accident. With minimal training, about four hours, you can learn these life-saving skills.”

Fannin added that complacency kills.

“We think that nothing like an active shooter or terrorist attack could happen around here,” he said. “But there’s nothing that makes us safer than any other city. Terrorist type events could happen anywhere anytime. The better prepared we are, the better the outcome.”

For more about the Stop the Bleed program, call, 334-268-0296