PALESTINE, Jan. 30, 2012—The Palestine Fire Department will be ordering three Automatic External Defibrillator machines Monday to put in their fire trucks.
 
According to Palestine Fire Chief Alan Wilcher, EMS can get backed up and the Fire Department will be the first to respond and having these machines on-hand is important.
 
“Sometimes we have a traumatic arrest, which is a cardiac arrest due to a vehicle accident, and a lot of times we get there before the ambulances do and we can at that time hook up the AED and monitor the patient before EMS arrives,” Wilcher said.
 
The purchase of the machines is made possible by the funds raised at the Fright Night Haunted House events held in 2010 and 2011 and should take about two weeks to arrive, according to Wilcher.