PHILLIPS — Phillips Fire Department recently purchased a new Hurst hydraulic rescue tool package that includes the Jaws of Life with a spreader, cutter and ram, as well as air-lifting bags and stabilization equipment.
These new tools replace the 30-year-old Phoenix tools that had been originally donated to the department as secondhand equipment almost 18 years ago.
“Our old Phoenix tool had become too unreliable and could not cut through the modern medals that are being used in today’s motor vehicles,” said Phillips Deputy Fire Chief Mark Rousseau. “When someone is critically injured and entrapped in a motor vehicle, every second counts. These new tools will allow us to do our jobs much more effectively and safely.”
A joint department training was held on Jan. 31 in Phillips to train on the new equipment. Approximately 16 firefighters from Phillips and Weld participated in the daylong training.
Both classroom and field training took place where every firefighter learned the tool’s basic operations and exercised the tools on a donated vehicle. The firefighters disengaged the electronic systems, took off car doors, peeled back the roof and dismantled the vehicle in a process designed to free an entrapped victim.
Lt. Jeremy O’Neil, a 10-year veteran of the Phillips Fire Department, stressed the importance of training with neighboring mutual-aid departments. “The more people who are trained and qualified to use this equipment, the better the chances for a successful outcome when it comes time to use it,” O’Neil said.
FMI: 207-639-FIRE, phillipsfirerescue@gmail.com.
Firefighters from Phillips and Weld fire departments train to use a new hydraulic rescue tool on a donated vehicle on Jan. 31 in Phillips. The Phillips Fire Department recently purchased the new tool, which has the Jaws of Life.
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