A volunteer fire department was first organized for the City of Philadelphia in 1736, giving way to one of the country's first full-time fire departments in 1870. Throughout the years, the Philadelphia FD has prided itself on providing the most effective fire and emergency response to its citizens. Such was the case in 2007, when the department purchased seven Segway Personal Transporters (or PTs) for its Special Event Response Team (SERT). According to EMS Apparatus and Equipment Officer, Captain Ray McCahery, the theory behind SERT was to tailor emergency medical response to each of the city's larger events

     "We respond to nearly 350,000 EMS incidents each year, but large special events require a different approach," says McCahery. "At these events, response with ambulances can be difficult because of the number of people at the site and the varied terrain. In 2006, we began equipping our SERT personnel with utility vehicles, ATVs and bicycles, and in 2007, with the support of Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers, we added Segway i2s to the mix. The whole idea is to enable our paramedics to respond as quickly as possible to medical emergencies wherever they occur."

     With a population of nearly 1.5 million, Philadelphia offers no shortage of annual events that are candidates for SERT activity.

     "Throughout the year we have a series of large-scale events for which we develop SERT emergency medical plans," says McCahery. "We have used the Segway PTs at all of them and the units have worked remarkably well."

     Thirty Philadelphia paramedics have now been trained to use the Segway i2s, each of which carries a light, siren and red "paramedic" identification on its white frame. McCahery has equipped each unit with nearly 40 pounds of gear, including a defibrillator, airway devices, bandages and medicine. All of these items are carried in the Segway i2's side cargo bags, which are the same bags used by the EMS bike teams. In the event that a paramedic must switch from a Segway PT to a bike—or vice versa—he or she simply grabs the bags and goes.

     According to McCahery, the department's SERT personnel have become big fans of the Segway PTs.

     "Our paramedics like the Segway PTs because they help them do their jobs more easily and quickly," says McCahery. "They like the mobility, the ease of use in crowds, and the ability to travel distances in a short period of time. And the reactions of the public to our Segway PT paramedics are phenomenal. Not only does the public more readily notice the paramedics on their Segway PTs, they also view the units as innovative and progressive. I can tell you this, I wish we had one for every SERT paramedic because they all compete to see who gets to use them during the next event."

Chip MacDonald is director of the police/government sector for Segway Inc., in Bedford, NH.