Last chance to register is today!!! I will be selecting a winning tomorrow from one lucky Facebook follower! To enter, all you have to do is go to the BoronExtrication.com page on Facebook and “like it”! Just pick the Like button and you are entered! 
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A good friend of this site is Jon Curley from RTC-Rescue.com and the information he posts on his site and YouTube are very informative and useful to rescuers around the globe. RTC Rescue posted several new videos on YouTube. I have posted the videos below, take a look and make sure you stop by Jon’s site too!
Extrication RTC Alternative Roof Technique
Extrication RTC an Alternative Technique
Extrication RTC Reciprocating Blade Info
Extrication RTC Gas Strut Removal
Extrication RTC Tailgate Removal
RTC-Rescue is a UK based site for the sharing and development of RTC Extrication Techniques and related topics, dedicated to the exchange of operational knowledge and skills from UK and Worldwide rescue organisations.Covering a wide area of subjects including Road Traffic Collision Extrication Rescue, SRS and new Vehicle Technology.
David Dalrymple’s new three-DVD vehicle extrication series from Fire Engineering was introduced at FDIC this year. David has his Roadway Rescuecrew filmed the majority of this DVD series in Dearborn, Michigan. To buy the DVDs, please visit PennWell Books. The DVDs can be bought individually or if you buy all three PennWell cuts about a a$100 off.
The 3 DVDs are each broken up into the following topics:
- Vehicle Extrication: Vehicle Technology/Alternative Fuel and Safety Systems, Dalrymple addresses the challenges and concerns in performing extrication on traditional and alternative fuel vehicles.
- Scene Management, Dalrymple addresses the overarching extrication process.
- Vehicle Extrication: Evolutions, Dalrymple reviews the basic evolutions that every extrication responder should be able to perform
Extrication DVD Filming in Ford Motor’s Backyard!
Below are short clips from each of the DVDs:
I’m a huge fan of anything useful to the fire service that is provided free of charge. Well, I found another extrication app for smartphones and the iPad. It’s called the Hybrid Auto Extrication Guide by Field Applications, LLC. The guide is available on iPhone, Android and iPad. I downloaded the guide onto my droid and I must say I’m really impressed!
Field Applications, LLC is a group effort located in Redwood City, California. Their products are designed by firefighters and paramedics, graphic designers and software engineers. Cal Blake is the founder who works as a first responder in California.
Below is a quote from their website Extricationguide.com that sums up the character of the people behind their product:
Cost is always a factor in operations, especially for academies and cadets, small departments, and volunteer services. That’s why the Hybrid Auto Extrication Guide is available for free in the App Store. We want it to be available to everyone.
One day after I posted about an app for the iPhone and iPad called Extraction Zones I ran across a rescue website that can be used on any Smartphone connected to the Internet. Another European automaker, Opel, stepped up to the plate and put an extremely useful rescue tool in the hands of many first responders for free! Opel put Rescue Cards that contain information for some 60 models from 1991 to present on a mobile portal that can be used on any Smartphone which has access to the Internet. This free mobile service is available in 10 European languages and enables rescue crews to access important information instantly.
The mobile rescue card portal will be used primarily by the fire department and first response crews. Via www.opel-rescuecard.com they can choose their own language and run a search for any Opel model. By placing the information on the Internet, rescue crews can be assured they are receiving the latest, most up-to-date news. Thanks to the built-in page optimization, the mobile rescue card portal automatically adapts to every standard smartphone model. The zoom function ensures that single parts and body sections can easily be seen on a small display.
If you don’t have a Smartphone, don’t worry, the rescue cards are still downloadable as PDF-files via the Internet.
Rescue Cards use the common key to show the different hazards in vehicles. The key is very similar to the one Moditech uses in their Crash Recovery System. Interesting…..maybe the Moditech Pioneers had a hand in developing the Rescue Cards for Opel.
Images and information from Opel Media
A fellow rescuer who just so happens to live in Venezuela, Yorman J. Mari Peraza posted a link on the Boron Extrication Facebook page about an iPhone/iPod app called Extraction Zones by Adam Weiss. The Extraction Zones app is only $.99 so it is definitely worth a try. Unfortunately for me, I have an Android phone and this app is not available for that phone platform yet. I thought about developing an app like this, however, my schedule is just too packed for me to even start developing one. So my hat goes off to Adam for taking the time to put a very low cost option out on the web for First Responders. I hope he continues to develop the app and add other platforms.
The extrication tools used by first responders are extremely powerful and essential to saving the lives of car collision victims.
The Extraction Zones app uses patent-pending technology and provides location information for airbags, seatbelt pretensioners, electric and propulsion systems, as well as structural reinforcements for the most popular cars on the road in the United States as well as most hybrid and electric cars. View this information all at once or only view pertinent information by hiding components as needed. Extraction Zones also provides an alternative night mode for darker surroundings.
The 2011 Dodge Durango is a unibody vehicle built with high-strength and ultra-high-strength steels. The body structure is made from 52 percent advanced steels. The inner and outer rail reinforcements protect occupants from intrusion during impact. Although Dodge does not state where heavy gauge metal is located in the body structure, it is optimally placed for increased performance. The different airbag locations are located below.
- Advanced multistage driver and front-passenger airbags
- Driver and front passenger seat-mounted pelvic and thorax airbags
- Supplemental side-curtain airbags
- Supplemental side-curtain front and rear airbags
Images are from Dodge.com and NetCarShow.com. The Dodge brand is owned by the Chrysler Group LLC.
I have a free TRECK from Talon Rescue to give away to a lucky reader. Tom DeRossa is the man behind Talon Rescue and the TRECK. Tom was nice enough to send me a free TRECK when I ordered one to keep in my gear so now I will pass the free TRECK along. However, there’s only one small catch! The winner has to send me a review and there thoughts of the TRECK after 6 months. To enter, all you have to do is go to the BoronExtrication.com page on Facebook and “like it”! Just pick the Like button and you are entered! I will select a winner from the list of people who like the Facebook Boron Extrication page on May 1st, 2011!
The TRECK is an emergency cutting tool, specifically designed to simultaneously remove multiple layers of clothing, equipment and other obstructions from a trauma patient. Many Firefighters, EMT’s, and Paramedics know that shears and scissors slow down the process and don’t always very well on a convulsing or moving patient. In an emergency time is of the essence. Also there is risk involved as shears move closer to the patients body. The TRECK is designed specifically to move away from the patient, thus preventing enabling the user to access any wounds with haste.
- Purpose-Built – Patented design removes multiple layers of clothing simultaneously
- Safe – Guard prevents contact with blade
- Fast – Optimized blade angle and ballpoint guide
- Easy to Use – Insert ballpoint and pull away from the patient
- Effective – Razor-sharp, heavy-duty, serrated steel utility blade stays sharp for many cuts
- Rescue Use – Large handle with grips, bright color and ultra lightweight cored design
- Convenient – Disposable; no sharpening or autoclaving
- Inexpensive – Priced for disposability with multi-use capability
- Strong – ABS plastic frame
- Lower Force – Blade angle and ballpoint designed to reduce bunching and friction vs. hook knife
- Weight: 2.3 Ounces
- Dimensions: 8” x 2.5” x ½ overall diameter
Working in the automotive industry I’m very proud of all the advancements that the United States has made in terms of making a safer car and protecting the occupants. Many times automotive safety pioneers like Mercedes-Benz are first to implement new costly safety devices in production vehicles. I mean Mercedes-Benz has a car with automatic partial braking that intervenes if driver does not react in face of acute danger of accident. So I was not surprised to find out that a revolutionary extrication tool was implemented across the pond. There is something that an international foundation has started and needs to gain the legs to get it spread around the globe, especially here in the US. The FIA Foundation has developed a standardized A4 “rescue sheet” that includes information on the location of cabin reinforcements, tank, the battery, airbags, gas generators, control units etc. – and indicating adequate cutting points must be used throughout Europe. The best part, the rescue sheets are free! The only catch is that individual vehicle owners, our “customers” if you will, need to print out the sheet and put it on the driver side sun visor.
The FIA Foundation decided to take the rescue sheet one step further. The ADAC Initiative (the ADAC is Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobile-Club which is the largest auto club in Germany) main goal is to provide a fast on-site access to non-commercial database of all rescue sheets for all makes a models. No small task!
Ron Moore from Firehouse Magazine’s University of Extrication proposed something very similar to the Rescue Sheets called the “Vehicle Safety Data Sheet” (VSDS). Ron proposed requiring one VSDS placard to be applied to the underside of every hood and a standard location for a second VSDS placard under or behind the rear license plate. Just like the rescue sheet, Ron also thought the best inside location driver’s side sun-visor. Interesting enough, Ron proposed this idea back in 1999! Ron is truly a pioneer in the world of extrication and if you have never been to a live training class that he puts on you are missing out!
Another interesting fact about the rescue sheets is the very common appearance the sheets have compared to Moditech’s Crash Recovery System. I have a feeling that Moditech is creating the sheets for the automakers.
ADAC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobile-Club)
The FIA Foundation is an independent UK registered charity which manages and supports an international programme of activities promoting road safety, environmental protection and sustainable mobility, as well as funding specialist motor sport safety research.
The automakers have really stepped up their efforts to provide the fire rescue service with useful information on the new technologies. Volkswagen has published several very informative pdf files about the 2011 VW Touareg Hybrid SUV. Several important notes about the hybrid Touareg:
- The high voltage system is disabled approximately 20 seconds after disconnecting the connector.
- The passive safety systems, such as the airbag and the seat belt tensioner, will continue to be supplied with voltage by the 12V battery.
- The high voltage system automatically deactivates if there is an accident and the airbag and/or seat belt tensioner deploy.
- If the ignition and 12V battery are accessible the high voltage system is disabled 20 seconds after turning off the ignition. After that, the passive safety systems such as the airbags and the seat belt tensioner are deactivated.
A printed version of the rescue sheets and Emergency Response Guide (ERG) can be ordered free of charge from the VW literature website or you can just print the pdf files.
VW Touareg High Voltage Battery
The 2011 Volvo C30 body structure has a patented front and rear structure that use different grades of steel to absorb and redistribute impact energy around the body of the coupe during a crash. The C30 was tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and was awarded Top Safety Pick award. The C30 was granted the IIHS’s highest rating of “good” in front, side, rear and roof strength tests. The B-Pillar is very well built with Ultra High Strength Steel (UHSS) and is the reinforcement is colored pink in the image below.
In the picture below the seat belt pretensioners are highlight in red. The front seat prentensioners are located in the B-Pillar located just below the window. The rear seat prentensioners are located just behind the belt retractor just below the window. The rear airbag stored gas inflator is located directly above the rear seat prentensioners just above the top of the rear quarter window.
This site is not affiliated with AB Volvo, Volvo Car Corporation, Volvo Cars of North America, Inc., or other Volvo companies whose products may be viewed in these pages. www.volvocars.com
Randy Schmitz and Dan Hobbs have launched the Schmitz Mittz website. Schmitz Mittzs are a true product designed and developed by a firefighter for fighters. The name Schmitz Mittz has taken the fire service by storm while sparking interest in many other fields like military, police, roughnecks, wrecker drivers, and list goes on and on! Check back for some new videos of the gloves in action! The gloves are distributed by Firm Canada and will be availbe to order online very soon.
