By Dan Marshall

Nanaimo Fire Rescue perform vehicle extrication exercises

Jul 26, 2016 | 1:31 PM

Members of all four Nanaimo Fire Rescue stations are undergoing vehicle extrication training.

Timothy Doyle, an assistant chief, says this training is important so firefighters are comfortable using unique equipment in dangerous situations.

“We have a whole bunch of cars, we’ll get all our extrication tools out.  Spreaders, our jaws, our rams, stabilization equipment, special grinders and saws.  We’ll practice taking doors off, lifting the dash off patients legs, taking the roof off so that we have easier access to the patient to get them out of the vehicle,” said Doyle.

Doyle says they held a vehicle extrication training session in Nanaimo on Monday.

“One of the reasons why we do the training we’re doing is so that it can be second nature, almost automatic with the use of the tools and identifying how to use them.  When we get to an incident it frees your brain up to focus on the emergency stuff, the hazards, the patients.”

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Vehicle extrication is one of about 15-20 training objectives that firefighters are working on.

Those objectives rotate quarterly, with some being adjusted based on seasonal conditions.