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Comment by Tammy on March 23, 2010 at 9:28pm

Mr. Austin,
The Instructors for this class advised all the students that "this was not a technique to be tried at 'home' by an inexperienced person." It was only a demonstration of something they had to perform to free a patient trapped. They said they used it as a last resort method and wouldn't suggest that it be used. Thank you for your comment and concern regarding the method/technique and I hope I was able to answer your question and put your mind somewhat at ease.~Tammy

Comment by Lewis R. Austin on March 23, 2010 at 8:59pm

Tammy, Great seeing pictures of fire and rescue personnel training on extrication techniques. I always insist SAFETY at all times. Train like you would at a real incident. I would like an explaination of photos 367, 368, 369, 370 371 and 372. It appears that the spreaders were opened, placed around the victim's left leg and then the spreaders were opened fully pushing up the dash, freeing the victim's left leg. Is this a true statement of that training technique? This increases the danger in causing injury to the victim's leg if the spreader slips or the operator operates the control in the wrong direction and closes the spreader arms. These are realistic problems you could see with a spreader. If this is a new extrication technique being taught from approved curriculum, I am not aware of this technique. Do some research and make sure this is a safe and approved method to free a trapped victim. Let me know what you find out. Be Safe and Take Care. Lewis R. Austin, Chairman NFPA 1936 Standard on Fire Department Rescue Tools