First responders come to Fresno to train for a mass casualty event

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Long before Sunday night's mass shooting in Fresno, firefighters and paramedics from around the state signed up to attend a special training on how to respond to a mass casualty event. That training took place on Tuesday in Fresno.

Volunteers portrayed shooting victims in various stages of distress. Some unconscious, some hemorrhaging and others perhaps grazed by bullets. The former University Medical Center at Cedar and Kings Canyon served as the staging area for the training.

The object of the training is to teach first responders to act in the moment and have a broad situational awareness.

"We want to go in there quickly, but we want to go in there safely," said Cen Cal EMS Coordinator, Elsie Kusel. "So law enforcement, they are to neutralize or eliminate the threat, right? There's going to be an overlap of law enforcement and medical responders to take care of severe hemorrhage."

Kusel says a patient can die within four minutes of having a major blood vessel puncture. She says, even lay-people can learn the techniques of how to respond in emergencies by taking a basic first aid course.