Two dummies were cut out of a car wreck while another was rescued using ropes during a demonstration by the Burnaby Fire Department earlier this month.
The firefighters ran through two scenarios – a car crash and a fall at a construction site – at Fire Hall No. 1 on July 11 to show members of the city’s public safety committee how the department uses specialized training to save lives.
The technical rescue team, based out of Firehall No. 5 in North Burnaby, showed how firefighters would execute a high-angle rescue of a worker who had fallen into a big excavation pit at a construction site.
It’s a plausible scenario in Burnaby with all the towers going up in the city, said deputy fire Chief Dave Samson.
In fact, the techniques firefighters demonstrated were used in January to extricate a man experiencing medical problems from an elevator car stuck on the seventh floor of the Telus building.
A high-angle rescue could also be used to save window washers, tower crane operators and people who fall off the back of Burnaby Mountain, according to Samson.
“It’s all about teamwork and communication,” he said, as a firefighter scaled Fire Hall No. 1’s 70-foot training tower to rescue the fallen dummy.
One of the department’s busiest specialities is its rescue task force, which responds to motor vehicle accidents.
At the July 11 event, public safety committee members got to watch a complete rescue scenario unfold featuring two crashed cars with dummies trapped inside.
Before cutting the vehicles open with the Jaws of Life, firefighters have to stabilize them and defuse all manner of potential hidden dangers – like exploding airbags that can launch a firefighter 10 feet, according to Samson.
Electric cars pose their own unique dangers, and, while firefighters have access to detailed specs that should warn them where not to cut, the technology changes quickly, Samson said.
“It’s still scary,” he said.
Despite the challenges, cutting a patient out of a car takes a matter of minutes.
“Our crews work tirelessly on this speciality,” Samson said.
