Tuesday was Valentine's Day, and Monday around dinner time a call was received for an unconscious person that turned out to be a cardiac arrest with CPR in progress. It was approximately eight minutes from time of call to an Upper Pine crew delivering a shock and getting a return of a pulse along with the patient regaining consciousness.

The crazy thing is it was the north end of Vallecito Lake and the crew was from Station 4. A year ago, there would not have been a crew there and the 20 minutes from the station at the dam through fog laden, black-iced roads would have never made it in time.

We moved a crew there after analyzing data from LaPlata County's GIS department on housing density and population in April of 2016. BIG DATA SAVES LIVES IN A BIG WAY. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the patient's family as the staff at Mercy's cardiac lab were working Monday night and into the early morning hours Tuesday to further improve his chances.

Hoping for a Valentine's Day miracle for this family!

Chief Bruce Evans

Upper Pine River Fire Protection District