To the community,

The South Lake Tahoe Fire Department hosted a regional extrication training over the week of Sept. 15-17, 2010. This training was attended by fire units from South Lake Tahoe Fire, Lake Valley Fire, Fallen Leaf Fire, Tahoe Douglas Fire, and CalFire.

The training “extravaganza” simulated vehicle accidents in realistic situations, such as unstable cars on boulders, on concrete barriers, on top of each other and even under a bus. The crews were able to hone their skills and actually cut the cars up with the “jaws of life” and simulate removing patients while stabilizing the scene. This kind of training is essential to swift and safe removable of victims from vehicles that have crashed and received major damage. The sooner a victim can be removed “safely” from the vehicle with medical treatment and stabilization, the greater chance of survival and receipt to a trauma center within the “Golden Hour”.

The newer car models have many dangers for responders and victims that require education and practice such as undeployed airbags, energy absorbing bumpers and extensive electrical systems. There are specialized techniques utilized to remove injured occupants to keep their injuries from getting worse or causing death. The public needs to realize that pulling victims out of a car by the untrained citizen can make the injuries worse, cause paralysis, or death.

This training was made possible by the support of our community here at Lake Tahoe. We would like to thank all of them:

Welcomes Auto Body

Emerald Bay Tow

Jack Construction Co.

Meeks Lumber

Tahoe Sand and Gravel

Scotty’s Big Rig Towing

Caltrans

City of South Lake Tahoe

Community vehicle donations.

Marty Scheuerman, SLTFD division chief