Spokane Valley Fire Fighters have a rigid training schedule every day.  This week crews were involved in Extrication Training, stabilization and pull and save tactics.  Crews cut off doors, cut through roofs, and trained for various scenarios where cars might be upside down, on their side, or smashed in such a manner as to not allow entrance to someone trapped inside.

A car accident on June 6, showed this training in application.  A 2 vehicle “T-bone” collision between a sedan and full-size pickup took fire fighters from their training a block down the road to the incident.  There they utilized the skills they had just been training on to protect the passenger who was unable to exit the vehicle from broken class and sustained injuries.  The SVFD Fire crew teams works together on varying aspects of the accident.  One crew stabilized injuries, one crew removed the passenger door, and another crew began cutting through the roof as a backup plan in case doors took too long to remove.

Safety of the injured passenger is always a primary concern.  Today’s SVFD efforts demonstrated how on-going training efforts have direct correlation to application in the field.  The crews were able to remove the seriously injured passenger safely and efficiently, all while stabilizing her immediate medical needs.  The passenger was then transported via ambulance to the hospital.