Boron Extrication An in-depth look into vehicle extrication and rescues involving today's automobiles
The last day at FDIC was Friday for me and the list of people to stop by and see was very long and even a little stair climb to fit in before the 4ish hour drive back to the Detroit area. After an early breakfast – because the Huron Fire guys snore so loud – I ran into a couple Chiefs from the Ann Arbor Fire Department. Kind of funny that I was with a bunch of Ohio State fans!
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So the day started out at in Lucas Oil Stadium and the first two booths I ran into were Detroit Fire Tees and Packexe (Packexe was sharing a booth with the Junkyard dog guys). The Detroit Fire Tees crew had a bunch of their Detroit Fire shirts for sale. If you missed them, make sure you stop by and like their Facebook page and checkout the Detroit Fire Tees online store.
Next was a stop to see our friend from across the pond, Andrew Orchard, CEO of Packexe. Packexe sent me a few rolls of their prototype Sharps Wraps last fall and it was cool to see the production one and test it out.
Wednesday at Howl at the Moon I finally got to meet Randy Schmitz, the guy behind Schmitz Mittzs extrication gloves. We checked out his booth and he hooked us up with a pair of the latest version of Schmitz Mittzs. The HexArmor booth was also in Lucas Oil Stadium and we stopped by to meet a bunch of the Michigan folks from that company. The two gloves you will see me use, Schmitz Mittz and HexArmor. Try them both!
I stopped by the FoxFury and met their team which included the man behind Views from the Jumpseat, Ryan Pennington. The FoxFury folks hooked me up with a Discovery Tasker S helmet light a few weeks ago!
On the way to the FDIC 911 Stair Climb we stopped by the MN8 FoxFire booth and took a look at their booth. Zack hooked Paul and myself up with a Foxfire Illuminating Helmet Band and a limited 2013 FDIC FireFox Helmet sticker! Thanks FoxFire!
The highlight of the trip is the gentleman in the picture below. Right before the 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb started I heard someone yelling my name. The whole story deserves a unique post, so please check back for it.
After the stair climb, I headed straight over to the Hi-Lift First Responder jacks booth to meet Jeff Pugh. Jeff has a bunch of great extrication based products that he has put his extrication knowledge into to make our MVAs a little easier. Beside the FRJ, Jeff has the MVA accountability boards from TacTron and a new rescue tool that will sure turn a few heads when it is released.
On the way out of the stadium, I walked past the Rescue Access Tool, (RAT). I wish I would have a had a little more time to talk with the RAT guys. Mike Huffman (Crunch Time Extrication Symposium) sent me a link about the tool a couple weeks ago. Looks pretty cool, anyone use one yet?
Working my way back to the car I wandered back into the Convention center and ran into the RESQTEC booth an stopped and took a few pictures of their cribbing. My training cribbing is all wood but at the station the Rescue and Tower have plastic cribbing. When money is not an issue, I’m a fan of plastic cribbing, but for my personal training gear, it’s much easier to worry about wood and not plastic!
For the third FDIC in a row, I never ran into Ann Marie Knegt! Ann Marie is a Deputy Editor at Hemming Fire in magazines like Fire and Rescue. I brought a cool gift for her, Cards Against Humanity, which is not available over in the UK. I dropped off the game and headed to the car. Just in time to hit rush hour traffic on the way out of town! Can’t wait until next year!
