Every Thursday evening is training night at Shrewsbury Volunteers. Tonight was prepare to get wet and cut some cars up….. Shrewsbury Volunteers takes pride in our vehicle rescue techniques and the ability to remove people trapped in horrific accidents. This evening personnel fine tuned skills on patient access and removal using hand, power and hydraulic tools. A good rescuer uses all the tools in their tool box, not just the easy ones.
Personnel worked on moving dashboards away from a trapped patient using the “dash lift” technique. This tactic involves a hydraulic cutter and spreader but no ram. This allows access to the patient and not block the removal path of the trapped patient once the dash is lifted out of the way. It is nationally becoming the preferred way to free patient when the front end collision pushes the dash onto the driver/passenger. Other techniques were reinforced such as stabilization, use of hand tools if power tools fail and patient care/removal.
Thank you to all the volunteers who came out on a rainy night to better themselves. The people we protect will appreciate it if we are called upon to rescue them….