When the call comes firefighters and EMTs from Engine 31 in Brooklyn are ready. Whether it's a fire, a heart attack, or an overdose their trucks are equipped and their people ready to respond, "We believe it is saving lives and making a difference."
The difference, Captain Russ Davies said is Naloxone or Narcan. Two years ago Anne Arundel County Fire added the drug to its arsenal of life saving tools.
While paramedics have been trained to administer Narcan since the 1980's, now EMT's can treat patients with the drug that reverses the effects of a heroin or opioid overdose.
Davies said they needed it, "The department runs about 80,000 calls a year. We administered the drug on 800 of those calls, and 80 of those instances it was administered by an EMT basic someone who 2 years ago wouldn't have been able to administer that drug."
With dozens of heroin related deaths Davies said Anne Arundel County hasn't been left out of the epidemic sweeping the state.
"It used to have a stigma attached to it that it was a street drug, that it was people you found in abandoned houses and alleys. Now it's pervasive in any segment of the community. Any part of the county you can see a heroin overdose," he said.
First Responders, like Officer Gina Chen, are also carrying Narcan. Chen has already saved lives.
"It was reported as a possible heroin overdoseso immediately going into the home I came in with my Narcan which I actually keep right in reach so it's quick i know where it is every time. I grabbed it ran in the home. The male was on the floor unresponsive," Chen said.
With one burst into each nostril the mist works within a minute.
"It is amazing to see," Chen said. You see someone blue who is going to die without your assistance, and you to do something as simple as this, to administer the Narcan and to see them come back to life the color come back in his face."
For some it's a quick, temporary fix until their next high for others hopefully a life saving wake up call.
"As a police officer you take an oath to save a life and it's not my idea to judge who deserves to live and die, it's my job to save a life, no matter who that person is," she said.
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