Firefighters practice extrication drills

A small fleet of wrecked cars donated by Bend Autowreckers and Davis Tire served as an outdoor classroom last month for firefighters and rescue workers from the Black Butte, Cloverdale and Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire Districts.

Using the "jaws of life" and other life-saving machines and devices, crews ripped into the steel corpses of salvage automobiles at the Sisters Sewer Treatment Plant in an all-day rescue extrication workshop.

Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire Chief Tay Robertson said the feedback for the drills was excellent and some good work was accomplished.

"Our department sponsored the event," he said. "It took place Saturday (September 24) at the south end of Locust Street at our training site for the fire department. We have four acres leased out there that we use for training purposes.

"They spent an entire day out there from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.," said Robertson. "The purpose of the drills is to instruct firefighters and rescue personnel in techniques for extricating victims from vehicles involved in auto crashes. They used manual techniques with hand tools and the advanced hydraulic tools used on the rescue units, including the 'jaws of life' people are familiar with."

Ken Enoch is the Sisters-Camp Sherman division chief who organized the event and drills.

"I was getting ready to do an extrication class and was having a problem getting cars, so we combined forces with Black Butte Fire District and John Thomas from Cloverdale Fire District," Enoch said. "They were interested and trying to purchase some extrication equipment themselves since they also respond to vehicle accidents.

"We had seven total cars, one pickup truck and the rest were four-door sedans of all makes and models. We also had Harry Ward, from the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training out of Salem, to observe, and he brought tools to help with the training and instruction

"Everybody had a blast. They use stabilizing tools called Rescue 42s and practiced with spreaders and cutters and rams. They took doors off, cut into roofs, rolled and peeled off the dashboards and removed windshields to simulate all types of victim rescue and removal."

"We had cars on their sides, upside down, we had cars on top of cars and created different scenarios to reach trapped victims," said Enoch. "Instructors from Sisters-Camp Sherman and Black Butte fire districts joined members of the Department of Public Safety to teach a total of 33 firefighters from the three different firefighting units."

The evidence of the drills was hauled away - a little the worse for wear.

"I spent all Friday hauling cars out to the training site and I'll spend all day Monday hauling them back in little pieces," joked Marcus Peck, a volunteer with the Cloverdale Fire District. "They must have had fun with them."