New London — Less than a month after they finished training and equipped themselves with the opioid reversal drug Naloxone, better known as Narcan, the New London Fire Department made their first “save” of a suspected heroin overdose victim over the weekend.

Fire Chief Henry Kydd said firefighters, who are all trained emergency medical technicians, were called out twice on Saturday for overdose patients. It's not so much of an unusual occurrence to have an overdose patient, but Kydd said the use of Narcan is.

One call came at 8:31 a.m., and firefighters helped the patient to breathe and were prepared to use Narcan when the patient started breathing without their assistance.

The second call for a suspected overdose came about 7:15 p.m., and arriving firefighters found a patient who had a pulse but was not breathing. After obtaining information that heroin was involved, firefighters administered the Narcan through a nasal atomizer. The patient awoke immediately.

Training of EMTs across the region in the use of Narcan is a recent phenomenon and a reaction to a jump in the number of heroin overdose deaths in the state over the past few years. The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner reported that heroin was involved in 325 deaths, or 58 percent of all accidental deaths, in 2014.

A change in the EMT scope of practice was approved last year, opening the door for more first responders to administer the drug. State police, who are not all trained EMTs, started carrying Narcan last year and report administering the drug 22 times since October.

Kydd said training was completed at the end of February, and all three engines and two ambulances in the city now carry Narcan.

The training comes at a time when emergency services in the region have reported a spike in overdose patients, including three deaths in Groton over the past two weeks.

While Lawrence + Memorial paramedics are called to the scene of all overdose calls, which are considered advanced life support calls, Kydd said it will often be the case that firefighters arrive first. The timing in some cases can mean the difference between life and death, he said.

“This is why we chose to do this,” Kydd said.

The New London Fire Department responds to about 5,000 medical calls every year, which make up about 80 percent of their total calls.

Ron Kersey, EMS coordinator at L+M, said the hospital has overseen the training of about 1,000 EMTs in communities covered by the hospital. Those communities, he said, have worked out on their own the logistics of if and where to carry Narcan. There is no mandate, he said, and for some it may be a duplication of services already provided.

He said out of 15 local ambulance services, 11 have completed training, two are close to completion and two have decided not to carry Narcan.

In addition to the 16 ambulance services, L+M provides medical control to four police departments, 13 fire departments and six emergency dispatch centers. L+M paramedics cover seven primary towns, from East Lyme to Stonington.

“Every community has a (basic life support) provider using Narcan,” Kersey said. “Every town is covered in some way, shape or form.”

He said New London firefighters were the first department in the region to use Narcan.

“They did a fantastic job,” Kersey said. “The patient met the criteria, and they followed their guidelines.”

Kersey said heroin and other opioid-based narcotics will suppress the respiratory drive, and the overdose patient could stop breathing.

While EMTs and paramedics can support overdose patients by providing ventilation, “the longer someone is not breathing on their own the more things can happen.”

“Giving the Narcan has them back breathing on their own and controlling their own airway,” Kersey said.

g.smith@theday.com

Twitter: @SmittyDay