The term “certified first responder” is not to be confused with “first responder”, which is a generic term referring to the first trained responder to arrive on scene (waste/recycle, EMS, police, fire). Many police officers and firefighters are required to receive training as certified first responders.
A first responder is a person with specialized training who is among the first to arrive and provide assistance at the scene of an emergency, such as an accident, natural disaster, or terrorist attack. First responders typically include sanitation workers, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, police officers, firefighters, rescuers, and other trained members of organisations connected with this type of work. A certified first responder is one who has received certification to provide care in a certain jurisdiction, for example, the Certified First Responder in France. A community first responder is a person dispatched to attend medical emergencies until an ambulance arrives. A wilderness first responder is trained to provide pre-hospital care in remote settings and will therefore have skills in ad hoc patient packaging and transport by non-motorized means.