ANNE EICKSTADT PHOTO Belvidere Republican
The advanced Explorers ‘marry’ the two vehicles, under close supervision, to prevent any slipping and shifting while rescue operations are underway.

By Anne Eickstadt

EDITOR

Last month the Belvidere Fire Dept. hosted a house fire rescue training session for the Boone County Explorers Program. This month, Boone County Fire District #2 hosted the youth for a vehicle extrication training. Extrication involves stabilizing the vehicles at the site of the accident and forcibly cutting through doors, windows, and removing the roof in order to get to the victim, stabilize him/her/them, and get them out for transport to a hospital if necessary.

The training was held at the Boone County Fire District #3 station because the station is outside of the Belvidere city limits. Following the extrication training, they planned to light the cars on fire and give the youth a chance to practice extinguishing flames which is not something allowed within city limits.

The session began with the advanced group – youth who had been with the group the longest and had the most practice with handling the extrication equipment. They were to start by stabilizing a two-car accident scene with one vehicle resting upside-down on top of another vehicle. The youth had to figure out how to keep the upper vehicle from sliding off the lower vehicle and landing on top of a firefighter attempting the rescue.

“If you talk to 10 people,” BFD Lt. Chad Cunningham told me, “they will tell you 10 different ways to do this. And they will all be right – just different.”

As always, assess the scene, scene safety first.

“Look at everything,” Capt. Tim Davis of Boone County Fire District #3 told them. “Everything at an accident scene can hurt you if you are in a hurry. Look at where the vehicles are and how they are situated, consider the time of day, all of that. Size up the situation. Decide where to park your apparatus to block the road for safety and to leave room for the ambulance. Wear your safety vest.”

Boone County Fire District #2 Deputy Chief Cory Dovenmuehle said, “I-90 is a totally different situation than any other road. If you have the manpower, it’s good to have a lookout for traffic which does not slow down or stop. We have had accidents during accidents so always look around and keep your eyes on the traffic.”

“Have someone man a fire extinguisher,” another instructor said. “We have had cars explode on us and firefighters were burned. Things can go wrong very fast in our job.”

With hands-on training, you see it and you understand it differently than you do in a classroom. In each of the two scenarios, there was a driver and no passengers in each vehicle.

While the advanced Explorers figured out how to stabilize the two-vehicle accident scene, the basic and medium training for those who had not handled the equipment before or could use more practice worked on a single-vehicle accident. They utilized wooden blocks under the frame to stabilize the vehicle and let the air out of the tires so the vehicle could not shift while they were working on it.

They received instruction and hands-on practice with using a Haligan Bar to pry open the car doors and spreaders to get the door open (“Whatever it takes to get in there. Throw the parts in the ditch to get them out of the way.”) and glass cutters to get through the laminate windshield.

Meanwhile, the advanced group employed Rescue 42 stabilization struts to keep the upper vehicle from tipping over then employed straps to ‘marry’ the two vehicles to prevent the one on top from sliding off and injuring a firefighter. An instructor pointed out that they had strapped shut a door that they needed to get into and the group learned from their mistake and tried another way.

“The Explorer group, essentially, is free training for the fire departments,” said Deputy Chief Dovenmuehle to me. “Two of these Explorers have already been hired by local departments, so they are getting extra training with these scenarios.”

The vehicles in use for the evening were provided by Tilford’s Towing in Poplar Grove. “They work with BC Districts #2 and #3 a lot. They pay their employees to bring the vehicles here for us to practice on and then to come back and pick up the pieces when we’re done. They support our fire districts and the Explorers. They also help with Tow Trucks for Tots. They’re very generous to us.

“District #2 thanks the community for all the support they give us to buy tools and for the burn unit. Our Ladies’ Auxiliary is always behind us and our wives put up with us being volunteer firefighters.”

 
 
 
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