Firefighters' rescue tools an investment in safety

Approximately $31,000 in new hydraulic tools promises to make the time between a serious car accident and emergency medical care much shorter.

Next week, Fire District 3 will take delivery on a set of extraction tools, most commonly referred to as the "Jaws of Life," that will allow district volunteers to pull injured people out of the most twisted car wrecks.

District officials and commissioners first considered purchasing new tools several years ago as it became clear those in its inventory at the time were becoming less effective as car manufacturers built more safety measures into their products. Darin Reid, battalion chief for the district's rescue division, said this week that cars with side-impact beams and reinforced steel may keep occupants safe in a crash, but yield them up only with difficulty.

"How do we get you out?" was the question rescue personnel have been asking, Reid said.

During a recent training drill, volunteers broke a cutting tool on a car that proved to be a little too tough. Reid also cited an incident last year in which a woman crashed a BMW Z3 into a tree near Coupeville. Firefighters were unable to extract the woman's body for some time because the car's door hinges and other structural components were too resilient.

That should not be a problem in the future. The district's new tools, which are manufactured by Holmatro, promise to cut and spread metal farther and faster than the tools the district currently owns. The new cutting tools operate at about twice the pressure as the old ones -- 100,880 pounds per square inch. In addition, the new equipment weighs about half as much as the old tools, good news for anyone who has tried to hold an 80-pound cutter in the air for more than a couple of minutes.

For the money the district is paying, it will receive a cutting tool, a spreading tool, two ramming tools, a tool that both cuts and spreads, and a cutter designed for severing steering wheels and clutch, accelerator and brake pedals.

This combination should do the job, Reid said.

"From what we understand, they should do everything we need."

Rescue volunteers with the district are trained to put the tools to their best use. Since the start of the year, volunteers have torn apart 14 cars donated by Freeland's Island Recycling. Next week, district firefighters will compete against nine paid, professional fire departments in Seattle in an extrication and rescue showdown. Reid said all the practice and the new tools should make the South Whidbey team one of the best at the event.

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