Colorado Springs Fire Department now carrying whole blood inside their emergency vehicles

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)--Wednesday, the Colorado Springs Fire Department (CSFD) began carrying whole blood inside their emergency vehicles.

According to the CSFD, every 48 hours residents in the Pikes Peak Region need a blood transfusion. Now the department is equipped to start treating those patients even before they get to the hospital.

Medical experts say for the whole blood transfusion to be successful, it must be done within the first 15 to 30 minutes after someone is injured. Typically, firefighters say it's within that time frame that they're with the patient. 

The blood will be held in two coolers inside of smaller emergency vehicles.

"Things have changed so much in emergency medicine where we do not just hold blood, but we do a lot of things for cardiac arrests and for heart problems that we do more in the field now than we do at the hospital. So that first, like 20 or 30 minutes looks very similar in your living room compared to what it would look like in the ER," said Lieutenant Chris Weaver with the Colorado Springs Fire Department.

Inside those emergency vehicles, there is also a blood warmer tool to ensure blood is at the correct temperature for a transfusion. The CSFD said they expect to treat at least four or more patients per day.