Medical calls keep Lynn Fire Dept. busy

LYNN – At least one Lynn resident went into cardiac arrest, likely after shoveling record-breaking amounts of snow, as Lynn firefighters spent Saturday responding to an unusually high amount of medical calls.Lynn Fire District Chief Bob Bourgeois said firefighters responded to more than a dozen medical calls between 6 a.m. and noon as Lynn residents woke up to 23 inches of snow burying their homes, cars, driveways and sidewalks.Bourgeois said about half of those calls were cardiac events, with patients reporting difficulty breathing and chest pain. At least one man went into cardiac arrest and was taken to the hospital, Bourgeois said.He said he couldn’t make a direct link between the medical calls and the heavy-duty shoveling required to dig out of the massive snow storm that hit the region Friday night and Saturday.But the number of medical calls is unusually high, he said. “It seems to be a little more cardiac activity than we would encounter,” he said.Lynn firefighters also reported to several calls for carbon monoxide poisoning as the potentially fatal fumes seeped back into heated homes whose vents were blocked by piles of snow.In Boston, an 11-year-old boy died of carbon monoxide poisoning while warming up in a running car with a blocked vent, according to the Associated Press.Bourgeois said all of the monoxide calls in Lynn were not serious. But he cautioned residents to make sure their heating vents aren’t blocked before heating their homes.He also asked that as residents dig out of the storm, they clear fire hydrants in case of an emergency the fire department needs to respond to.”It was a very busy day for us here. The phone hasn’t stopped all day,” Bourgeois said.Amber Parcher can be reached at [email protected].