In Southern New Jersey there is a progressive ambulance service that not only provides EMS, but heavy rescue for the county.

If you're under the assumption that vehicle rescue is provided solely by the fire service you need to take a step back do a little research. Besides fire, police and other agencies within the Department of Defense there are private EMS companies that provide heavy rescue operations including motor vehicle rescue.

In Millville, NJ the Millville EMS has the sole responsibility for motor vehicle rescue and also provides technical rescue services county wide. The local fire department provides fire protection and augments the rescue operations as requested by the on scene incident commander who is the most senior Millville EMS member on scene.

Having worked with the members, I found that the personnel are well trained and equipped to provide communities within their jurisdiction the necessary skills needed for vehicle extrication.

Like the best trained rescue company in the fire service, Millville EMS personnel are well trained and man a heavy rescue unit that is on the county fire running card for rescue operations. The local members wanted to eliminated tunnel vision by hiring outside of their local area and see what Extrication.Com had to offer. In our opinion the Millville EMS Rescue was equal to any organization that we have worked with across North America. Being EMS oriented the medical care and patient considerations was second to none.

There are several reasons why Extrication.Com has been successful; first we provide the latest information on new vehicle innovations. We are part of the solution working as contractors with companies like Toyota Motor Sales of US and Toyota Motors of Japan. Second we do our own research not relaying on others to provide the information you receive. Third, the people that write published extrication articles and programs present them.

Some of the problems with canned training programs are:

•   They are costly to produce
•  Usually out dated by publication or shortly there after due to innovations within the industry
•  Organizations tend to get tunnel vision thinking this is the only way extrication is done
•  There is no interaction between the author/trainer and the instructors presenting the program and students attending the classes
•  There are no standards for an instructor presenting extrication training with regards to their personal ability to teach the program
•  Updates are only given in the next generation of publication

On the upside, canned programs provide the following advantages:

•  Gives individual companies the ability to review the principals and techniques as required at their own pace
•  Video programs can stand as proof of training qualifications on both the managements side and responder should there be liability or personal standards issues
•  Allows departments to set standards for uniformity throughout the organization
•  Quick way to introduce an extrication training program department wide, especially with budget restraints

At the present time there are no canned video training programs that offer updates as new information is made available. In the future Extrication.Com will be offering a video program that will have the ability to offer updates to the end user.

We suggest that organizations re-evaluate their extrication training programs bi-yearly to ensure they are current within our field of vehicle rescue. Departments need to look outside of the box once and a while to see how others are modifying extrication techniques to keep pace with the automotive industry. Extrication SOPs/SOGs need to be re-evaluated to ensure safe operating procedures are written for the latest innovative vehicles. Today's vehicles are not what they were five, ten or more years ago. Keeping pace with the industry is difficult at best. Be safe!

Ron Shaw