Extrication.Com
19 Baldwin Circle
Plymouth, MA  02360
-USA-

2006 Olathe Kansas Fire Department
40-hour Basic-Intermediate-Advanced Extrication

Please note: All photos on Extrication.Com are exclusive to our website and shall not be copied or reproduced without permission.

Photo by Mike Nash and Eric McClure

Demonstration: During the 40-hour program in Olathe, KS, to show the force generated by the first stage of dual stage passenger frontal airbag; Ron Shaw hot wired the first stage only to the inflator and placed a 155 pound rescue manikin on top of the passenger side dash. Students then watched as the first stage deployed causing the manikin to do a mid-air 360 eight feet in the air.

The students were then told to time the event from the moment of the first stage deployed. And, like clock work within 70 seconds, and without the assistance of an external ignition source, the second stage heat sinked and deployed. Dual stage airbags have two independent inflators. The evolution was repeated for the driver's side frontal dual stage airbag. Again only the first stage was deployed, with the same results; the second stage heat sinked.

This is not a one time occurrence, Extrication.Com has fired off dual stage airbags for the last three years, all with the same results. Responders should not intentionally deploy airbags during training. Doing so can cause injury, especially when they think a deployed airbag will not deploy twice.

The following images belong to Mike Nash and Eric McClure Lenexa, Kansas Fire Department.

Intermediate Extrication Skills

Modified Dash Roll, Vehicle On-Side Using Hi Lift Jack to Displace the Dash.

Practical Training Note: While you may think that this heap pile after the first day has no value, these wreaks were bought for $200 each. The metal is going over to China and top dollar is being paid. What does this mean to us, less vehicles for training, less vehicles without airbags. Old cancerized vehicles are fast being chopped up for scrap, vehicles you now get will be more challenging.

Be careful of your tools, the pillars are stronger, boron steel is being and steer reinforcement rods are located in your typical cut zones. Watch the hydraulic cutter blades, if they start to side load STOP and reposition or consider using a Sawzall with a 14 TPI blade.

The following photos belong to Olathe student Ken Wright

Floor Pan Entry

Removing the patient through the floor pan

Space Making Through the Floor Pan

Group photo Team-1

Getting Back to the Basics with Hand Tools

Extrication.Com teaches hand and power tools to perform extrication and believes that all responders should be taught getting back to the basics with hand tools.

As you progress through your training you will be come more reliant on hand tools and less on hydraulics. Today, the basic skills programs need to be expanded to a minimum of 16-hours, 10 of which should be dedicated to hands-on.

Showing students how to stabilize a vehicle with pickets, ratchet straps/Com-a-longs, and cribbing. It isn't as fancy as the $1,400 stabilizing strut kits,  but its a lot cheaper and works.

Tunneling through the trunk floor pan to get to the patients.

In our program we try to present challenging scenarios like this tunneling project. The scenario was a group of terrorists blew up a parking garage. This vehicle had cement slabs blocking all access except through the trunk floor pan. 

Here students see some of the challenges for the heavy truck and bus evolutions.

The following photos belong to the Olathe Fire Department

Light Duty wrecker assisting in roof removal.

Captains Dan Crall Olathe FD and Mike Nash Lenexa FD. No Mike isn't all that short, Dan is over six and a half feet tall!

Captain Steve Crandall, Salt Lake City UT FD, acts as incident commander for this evolution as 4 Kansas City Regional TV crews film the event for the daily news coverage.

Steve Crandall displacing the dash to this van.

The students had a little fun tagging this vehicle with their hometown departments. Note, that we did have one student from North Pole Alaska, no kidding! Kris Camp, drove from North Pole, AL over six days to attend our program in Olathe.

On a more personal note, Kris paid for all his expenses, and went to all 80-hours of classes held at Olathe. Kris is looking for a full time job in the Midwest, if there is a department looking for a good firefighter, please call me and I'll pass along the information. He has my personal recommendation.

Ron Shaw

Last modified: 05/10/08