West Mead #1 and West Mead #2 share the responsibility of providing fire/rescue services to the residents of West Mead Township. This week we teamed up with the cooperation of AIM Recycling Company in the West Mead Industrial Park to review the fundamentals of vehicle extrication. Crews from both departments mixed together to form two teams. Team leaders from both departments then instructed members step by step on current techniques for vehicle extrication. Instruction began with a review of scene safety and stabilization, then went into patient access and disentanglement. Each team began with stabilizing their respective vehicle and securing the electrical system. Teams then moved towards removal of window glass, doors, and preparing the vehicle for a complete roof removal. Lastly, crews worked to utilize rams to displace the dash board of the vehicles.

This was the first of several planned trainings between the two West Mead departments for the summer. In all, nearly 30 firefighters from the two departments participated in the training, utilizing equipment from 3 rescue engines and 1 rescue.