Fire crews train for car accident extrication

The Valley Towing wrecking yard was full of fire trucks, men using the Jaws of Life and tearing apart cars Saturday, but not because anyone was in danger. More than 20 firefighters from the Plains Fire Department and the Plains-Paradise Rural Fire District practiced extrication for car accident situations under the guidance of Craig Jeppson from the Fire Services Training School.

The extrication training session Saturday was a chance for the local fire crew to practice situations where patients are trapped inside a vehicle. They began by going over the tools and procedures used in extricating by cutting, prying and stabilizing real vehicles in the junkyard. Lee Mercier is assistant chief of the Plains-Paradise Rural Fire Department and he said they took apart the first car in order to get every member a chance with the tools.

“It let them get used to the tools,” Mercier said. “It showed them what to look for, what to do, what not to do.”

Some of the tools they practiced with included stabilizing jacks, electric saws, hallagan tools (a pick-like pry-bar), and the ram, which is a spreading arm. Mercier said the ram is especially useful when there is a “dash-roll” situation and they need to free the driver and passenger from the front seat. Also among the equipment used Saturday was the cutter, which looks like a giant crab claw, and the Jaws of Life.

After the first car was cut apart, they moved onto practicing different scenarios they might come across in the field - like a car up on its side or upside-down. Mercier said the crew also practiced a “third door” operation, where they cut an extra door out of a two-door compact car to give them more space to work.

Jeppson told the firefighters there won't always be a clear-cut situation, like the scenarios they practiced Sunday. He said the idea is to gain the skills used in extrication and then apply them to the situations they face in real life.

Jeppson is the western regional manager of the fire school, which is an arm of Montana State University Extension. The school is located in Great Falls, but Jeppson said they have instructors throughout the state. He was in Noxon earlier last week going over some of the same extrication practices with fire crews there. Jeppson is a member of the Frenchtown Fire Department and had a fellow member, Nate Sink, along with him to help with the training Saturday.

Mercier said the two fire crews decided to hold the day-long training session because they each had a large number of junior members and members with very limited experience. Town of Plains Fire Department Chief Larry Ballantyne, set up the training day with Jeppson. Mercier has several years of experience, but he said it helped to have Jeppson come in and share his knowledge with the fire crews.

“When you have someone from the outside coming in, people tend to listen to detail more intently,” Mercier said.

Mercier said they ran a live drill where the crew packed up the truck and then a team pulled into the wrecking yard with the lights on as if they were approaching an accident scene. The team then jumped out and ran a drill, extricating two mock victims from a vehicle.

Mercier said they extricated the victims in 16 minutes, which is only about five to 10 minutes slower than the fastest times by the most seasoned teams. He said it was a good showing for some of the firefighters who have limited experience.

He said the training session went well overall, especially because they could practice on more than one car out at the wrecking yard without having to have them towed. He said the crews were able to get a sense of what to expect in a real-life situation.

“The firefighters themselves have to know what their roles are going to be when they reach the scene,” Mercier said. “We got some good training in.”