HAMPSHIRE firefighters are being given greater medical training than ever to help them save more lives.

All frontline vehicles are being equipped with defibrillators, haemorrhage control tools, monitoring devices and a pain relieving gas known as Entonox.

The Immediate Emergency Care project could make "the difference between life and death" when fire engines arrive before paramedics, the service has said.

Crews would not go out to medical emergencies under the scheme. Instead they would be better equipped to treat patients at the scenes of typical firefighting calls.

Group Manager Rob Cole, who oversees the Fire as a Health Asset project for Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “The IEC is a major step forward in saving the lives of people in the county.

“We are not paramedics but we are often the first on the scene at incidents requiring medical intervention.

“A firefighter who has been medically trained to a high level and is armed with the right equipment can be the difference between life and death.

“We will deal with a casualty until the arrival of an ambulance at which point we would hand on the medical care to the paramedics as they have a greater level of clinical expertise."

Many other Hampshire firefighters are already trained to visit medical emergencies as co-responders. The project, run alongside South Central Ambulance Service since 2004, sees firefighters attend 13,000 medical calls a year.

Other health schemes run by the fire service include a course to help prevent falls among pensioners and outings to promote healthy lifestyles for young people.