SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Knowing how to act during a crisis could save your life or someone who love.

That is the message at Thursday’s Stop the Bleed training event hosted by the Shreveport Fire Department.

The goal is to teach people how to prevent someone from bleeding out, by packing wounds, applying a tourniquet, or use everyday items to stop blood loss.

Fire Chief Clarence Reese said these skills could make a difference in our community that sees gun violence, but also in situations like mass shootings, natural disasters, and everyday accidents, because it only takes three to five minutes to die from blood loss, while the average EMS response time is seven to ten minutes.

“Far too often we see people pulling out cell phones. We see it on Tik-Tok, Facebook, Instagram where people are taking out their cell phones and they’re recording an entire incident where someone is bleeding to death. So we are trying to give people those skills to be able to save a life,” Reese said.

“Doing what we can in a bad situation is important. I think everyone should come and take this training,” said Maddie Russo, participant.

Workers from the First United Methodist Church downtown participated. The Stop the Bleed classes are 30 minutes long for groups interested in the future.