After a great white shark killed 26-year-old Arthur Medici Saturday at Newcomb Hollow Beach, EMTs and paramedics from the Wellfleet Fire Department who cared him were promptly sent home, and their shifts filled by others.
“I had to make decisions right away about sending people home,” Wellfleet Fire Chief Richard Pauley said about standard go-home emergency response practices for “high stress, high profile” rescues.
As they consider the second great white shark bite this summer along the Cape’s Atlantic coast and the first fatal shark attack in the state in more than 80 years, fire and police chiefs say they are continuing their standard procedures, including for mental health monitoring. But they are expanding their training and considering options such as improved radio communications in the remote Atlantic coast dunes where radios can fail.