Central Pierce Fire & Rescue, MultiCare Mary Bridge Children’s Launch Initiative to Prevent Pediatric Window Falls
Central Pierce Fire & Rescue (CPFR) is partnering with MultiCare Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital to raise awareness about pediatric window falls and reduce preventable injuries across Pierce County through education, prevention messaging, and the distribution of free window stops to families who need them.
The partnership is informed by both regional injury data and real experiences from local families, including the Thompson family, whose daughter Madden was seriously injured in a window fall in 2023.
On Memorial Day weekend, the Thompsons were hosting a cookout at their home while their children played upstairs. Madden was in her bedroom, which had a lofted bed positioned near an open window. When she leaned against the window screen to call out to her parents, the screen gave way. She fell from the window while adults were just outside.
First responders transported Madden to Mary Bridge Children’s, where imaging revealed a fractured femur near the hip. She underwent surgery that night, requiring a plate and eight screws, and spent several months recovering, including three months without bearing weight on her leg. She eventually returned to normal activities, but the experience permanently changed how her family thinks about home safety.
“We had talked to our kids about window safety, but we had never shown them how easily a screen can pop out,” said Madden’s father, Ben Thompson, a firefighter with CPFR.
“The day after her injury, we installed window stops throughout our home. Looking back, I wish we had done it the day we moved in.”
According to Mary Bridge Children’s--the state-designated Level II pediatric trauma center for Western Washington — an average of 33 children are treated each year for window fall injuries. More than 25 percent of those cases come from just five zip codes, including 98387, 98374, and 98444, all within the CPFR service area. Most incidents occur during warmer months, when families rely on open windows to cool their homes The Thompson family hopes that by sharing their story, other families will take action before an injury occurs.
“Our message to parents and caregivers is simple,” Ben Thompson said. “Install window stops before your kids even begin to crawl. Kids grow and change so fast. Just do it early so this doesn’t happen to your family.”
Families can learn more about pediatric window fall prevention and available resources at:
www.centralpiercefire.org/window-falls
About Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital & Health Network
Founded in 1955, Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital is the state-designated Level II Pediatric Trauma Center for Western Washington. Offering comprehensive care and resources for critically ill and injured children, Mary Bridge Children's is the only pediatric hospital in Southwest Washington. Mary Bridge Children’s also provides primary, specialty, therapy and urgent care services at its outpatient centers and clinics across the Puget Sound region, including Tacoma, Puyallup, Gig Harbor, Olympia, Auburn, Covington, Maple Valley, Federal Way, Renton, Bonney Lake and Silverdale.
Mary Bridge Children’s is a part of MultiCare Health System, one of the largest community-based, locally governed health systems in Washington state. For more information about Mary Bridge Children’s, visit marybridge.org.
Central Pierce Fire & Rescue Honors 29 Cardiac Arrest Survivors
Central Pierce Fire & Rescue (CPFR) hosted its second annual Cardiac Arrest Survivor Ceremony on February 28, 2026, at the Washington State Fair Event Center, honoring 29 cardiac arrest survivors from 2025 and recognizing the dispatchers, first responders, medical teams, and bystanders who helped save their lives.
Cardiac arrest is one of the most time-critical medical emergencies. Survival depends on a system working together in minutes, from the first 911 call to CPR, defibrillation, advanced resuscitation, and hospital care. The ceremony highlights the importance of the cardiac arrest “Chain of Survival,” a series of actions that must happen quickly to give a patient their best chance at recovery.
In 2025, CPFR was dispatched to 364 cardiac arrest incidents where CPR was performed, averaging nearly one cardiac arrest every day. CPFR transported 102 of those patients, reflecting the department’s ability to restore pulses and provide advanced resuscitation care in the field. Ultimately, 29 patients survived cardiac arrest in 2025, a significant increase compared to 17 survivors in 2024 and 15 survivors in 2023.
CPFR credits the improvement to a combination of ongoing training, high-quality CPR performance, data-driven quality improvement efforts, and system-wide changes.
One key improvement occurred on April 1, 2025, when South Sound 911 implemented cardiac arrest dispatch pre-alerts, resulting in a 40-second improvement in response time. That change helped crews reach patients sooner, often during the critical window when the body is most receptive to CPR and defibrillation. CPFR saw its strongest survival months following the change, including five survivors in April and five in May, the highest monthly totals the fire district has recorded.
The event is hosted by Central Pierce Fire & Rescue and made possible through generous support from Pierce County Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 726, the American Heart Association, Stryker, Mount Rainier Emergency Physicians Group, Korean Women’s Association, MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital, and the Pulse Heart Institute.
CPFR encourages all community members to learn CPR and become familiar with the location of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in workplaces, schools, and public spaces. Early CPR and early defibrillation remain two of the most important factors in improving survival outcomes.
For information on CPR training opportunities, visit:
www.centralpiercefire.org/classes/cpr-first-aid-classes/
Carbon Monoxide (CO): The Invisible Killer
As temperatures drop and households rely more on heaters, fireplaces, and generators, the risk of carbon monoxide exposure increases. Symptoms often resemble seasonal illness, such as headache, nausea, dizziness, and fatigue, which makes CO poisoning easy to overlook.
In the early morning hours of December 1, 2025, Central Pierce Fire & Rescue firefighters responded to a single-family home in the Puyallup area after a working carbon monoxide alarm awakened a family. A stove burner had been accidentally left on overnight. When crews arrived, carbon monoxide levels inside the home measured between 4 and 12 parts per million and quickly returned to zero once the home was ventilated. For reference, the World Health Organization recommends breathing no more than 3.5 parts per million over a 24-hour period.
Without a functioning carbon monoxide alarm, levels could have continued to rise while the family slept, potentially leading to serious injury or worse. This incident is a clear example of how early warning from a CO alarm can turn a potentially deadly situation into a safe outcome.
To help minimize this risk, we are committed to providing free CO alarms to residents of our fire district. In 2024, we were awarded a $250,000 federal grant, provided by the Consumer Product Safety Commission and authorized through the Nicholas and Zachary Burt Memorial Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act of 2022. This two-year grant has funded over 4,000 alarms in our District, and we will continue to provide free carbon monoxide alarms, installed by our crews, for the remainder of the grant period.
Visit our Carbon Monoxide page for information and available resources.