franchise-star-trek-tng-technical-manual1

18.3 EMERGENCY MEDICAL OPERATIONSTo avoid spontaneous re-ignition of an extinguished fire,the computer will maintain containment field until the combustiblematerial has cooled to below the ignition point.Larger fires may require the activation of section isolationdoors and forcefields to limit the possible spread of the fire. Insuch cases, extinguishing fields can be supplemented withhandheld fire extinguishers and firefighting gear located instrategically placed corridor storage modules.In extreme emergencies, isolated sections of the habitablevolume can be vented to the vacuum of space. Since thisprocedure would be fatal to any crew member in thosesections, such venting cannot be performed until the areashave been evacuated. The only exceptions to this protocolare if the Commanding Officer certifies that the fire poses animminent danger to the entire spacecraft and crew.16.3 EMERGENCY MEDICAL OPERATIONSAt first glance, it might appear that the Galaxy class USSEnterprise is overequipped for medical support. While thenominal mission of the medical department is to providehealth care for the ship's crew and attached personnel, this isa relatively small task considering the standard long-termcrew complement of about a thousand individuals. However,the Medical department must also be capable of respondingto a wide range of medical and emergency situations. Thesescenarios include emergencies on other spacecraft, planetarydisasters, and bacteriologic and other exobiologicalthreats, as well as crises involving nonhumanoid patients.One of the key provisions for emergency preparednessis the requirement that at least 40% of crew and attachedpersonnel be cross-trained for various secondary assignmentsincluding emergency medical, triage, and other disasterresponse functions. (Other nonmedical support secondaryassignments include Engineering and Security duties.)Yellow and Red Alert protocols call for cross-trained personnelwith noncritical primary assignments to be available fortheir secondary assignments as necessary.Emergency medical facilities are designed to significantlyincrease the patient-load capacity of the Enterprisesickbay. Depending on the severity and patient load, differentoptions are available.Large numbers of patients can be handled by emergencyconversion of one or more shuttlebays into triage and treatmentcenters. The main shuttlebay is equipped with fiveportable emergency hospital modules, which can be set up inthe flight deck area, providing up to five triage and surgerywards. Three additional emergency patient care modules canprovide up to seventy-five intensive-care beds and 530medium-care beds. Shuttlebays 2 and 3 are each equippedwith one hospital and one emergency patient care module.These emergency care facilities are equipped for full biohazardprotocol, minimizing exposure risk to Enterprise personnel.Additionally, Shuttlebay 3 includes hardware for shorttermconversion to Class H, K, or L environmental conditions,intended for nonhumanoid populations. Note that the use ofshuttlebay facilities for medical service will necessarily impactshuttlecraft launch and recovery operations, a factor that canbe significant during evacuation scenarios. For this reason,large-scale evacuation involving shuttlecraft support willgenerally make use of sickbay and other facilities first, beforeshuttlebay conversion procedures are invoked.Fewer numbers of patients can be handled by conversionof other facilities. Guest quarters on Decks 5 and 6 areconvertible to medical intensive-care use, and utility hookupsThe idea of forcefields being used to extinguish shipboard fires was devised by writer Meiinda Snodgrass in her episode "Upthe Long Ladder." It was not only logical in terms of the ship's technology, but made for a pretty funny scene.