Mobile Fire-Rescue Now Equipped With Body Armor

MOBILE, Ala.

As unusual as it might sound, firefighters in Mobile were recently issued body armor to protect themselves when responding to shooting scenes or other violent situations.

Many times, Mobile Fire-Rescue personnel respond to calls for help where people may be armed, a shooting has or is occurring and now they will be able to put on bulletproof vests, similar to what police officers wear said MFRD Public Information Officer Jeff Haller.

“Any scene where there’s violence. So, if somebody calls in and says, ‘hey, I think somebody’s been shot here,’ even that kind of call where it’s unknown, we would probably want to be safe and put it on for an incident like that,”

The vests aren’t assigned to individuals but are stored on every engine, ambulance and ladder truck. Last month, the department conducted active shooter and hostile environment training to get familiar with the new gear and brush up on medical techniques used in mass casualty events to help control bleeding.

“Everybody takes part,” said Haller.

The vests cost $124,000 and were paid for with an Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Homeland Security grant. Haller says nationwide fire departments are adding body armor to their trucks due to gun violence.

“Sometimes it might be unwittingly, or they might just be caught in some kind of crossfire. Now we try to avoid situations that are unsafe and we try not to go into those situations. So this is just an extra layer of precaution,” said Haller.

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