TRAINING DIVISION Year in Review

Emergency Medical Services

The Emergency Medical Services Division is supervised and coordinated by the EMS Director. Thomas Bates started the year as EMS Director and then turned the office over the CPT Rachel Barnard in October of 2022. Smyrna Fire paramedics represent the highest level assigned to an EMS organization, and in general, the highest level of pre-hospital medical care. Paramedics perform a variety of advanced medical procedures and assessments. This level of pre-hospital care combined with Smyrna Fires rapid response time not only saves lives, but also improves the quality of life after our citizens return home from the hospital. Early recognition and intervention of heart disease, stroke, difficulty breathing, and cardiac arrest by Smyrna Fire Paramedics has led to the continuing care of our city.

This Division also teaches and coordinates the medical training for the Smyrna Fire Department including initial EMT School and continuous EMS training.

In 2022, nine firefighters of the Smyrna Fire Department completed EMT School. This school a total of 290 of initial EMS training.

• Chandler Barry

• Marshall Dixon

• Mark Evans

• Alexander Grosso

• Chris Hawkins

• Travis Moore

• Dominque Purifoy

• Josh Rusher

• Matt Stewart

Paramedic School

In 2022, we have had a total of two Firefighters attend Metro Atlanta Ambulance EMS Academy and will complete their instruction in late February of 2023. When they complete their certification process it will bring the total number of Paramedics to 48. Smyrna plans to send another three students to Metro for Paramedic School for the 2023-24 class.