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Project Tribute Foundation and the Play for Burk Foundation partner to fund 25 mass casualty kits for the Bartlesville Fire Department (BFD).

The donation was made at the new burn tower at Tri County Tech in Bartlesville on Thursday morning (pictured).

Jon Beckloff, Executive Director of Project Tribute Foundation, says three of the kits will go to School Resource Officers in Bartlesville. Beckloff adds that each fire engine will be equipped with two kits. He says the roughly $5,500 donation will go directly to BFD.

Kyle Ppool serves on the Play for Burk Foundation. Beckloff says he got to talking with Ppool about the idea to supply the BFD with mass casualty bags on their way back from Oklahoma City. The guys recently graduated from Leadership Bartlesville Class XXXI and had spent a day at the Capitol when the discussion was had.

Unfortunately shootings have been making headlines lately, so Project Tribute Foundation and the Play for Burk Foundation came together to make an impact. Beckloff says the Bartlesville Fire Department had approached them about acquiring the mass casualty kits last year. He says the BFD was concerned with having enough supplies should an event like a shooting occur here.

The average response time for EMS in Oklahoma to arrive at a scene is seven minutes. Beckloff says a person can bleed out in three to five minutes. He says people could survive up to two hours with the supplies in each of the kits, which simply buys time to establish safety at the scene until the victim(s) are able to get to the next level of emergency services.

The kits are designed for blood loss events. Each kit is packed with tourniquets, chest wound seals, gauze, and more. To learn more about the kits or to help purchase one for local first responders, click here.

To learn more about Project Tribute Foundation and its mission to provide lifesaving equipment to first responders, click here.

To learn more about the Play for Burk Foundation, click here.

Photo courtesy: Evan Fahrbach