Firefighters praised for treating Royston man who suffered heart attack

Firefighters have been praised for reacting quickly to treat a man who walked into their station after suffering a heart attack.

The officers from Royston Fire Station administered treatment to the 75-year-old, a Royston resident, and cared for him until paramedics arrived to take him to hospital.

Crew Commander Craig Wood was at the station when the incident occurred on Monday morning.

He said: “The gentleman walked in complaining of chest pains. He had been driven up by his son because the ambulance station is based here, but the paramedics were on a call.

“He’d had previous heart-related problems, and the officers quickly established he was having a heart attack. They gave him oxygen therapy and waited with him until the ambulance arrived.”

Royston Fire Station is equipped with a defibrillator machine to help people who have suffered heart attacks, but it wasn’t needed on this occasion. The man was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge for further treatment.

Crew Commander Wood paid tribute to the three firefighters who were on duty at the time and helped treat the man – Keith Brown, Nigel Etherington and Steve Greaves.

He said: “Incidents like this are becoming more and more frequent, especially as we have an ambulance station on site meaning people will come here in an emergency.

“The fire fighters are fully trained for this kind of scenario, and this was a chance to put that training into use.”