Boron Extrication An in-depth look into vehicle extrication and rescues involving today's automobiles
We train for motor vehicle accidents with entrapment but do you train for extrications that involve an object other than another car? A vehicle resting against a utility pole or wrapped around it is a common scenario that we could ran into on a MVA. However, a tree that fell onto a vehicle that was uprooted by the wind in uncommon for most of us, but that is what happened in Wilmette Illinois today. A family of six was traveling on Wilmette Avenue at 10:55 a.m. when a wind gust blew a large tree onto their Ford Freestyle. Two occupants were taken to the hospital for minor injuries.
Take a look at the picture below taken by Tim Olk. The Wilmette Fire Department stabilized the tree with cribbing and then extricated the driver.
Here’s the question, what would you do? What and how would you stabilize? Would you have a safety officer monitoring the tree during the extrication? Let’s use this incident to get everyone’s mind thinking. It’s an outside of the box call, but possible in any part of the world for the most part.
Photo courtesy of Tim Olk
Photo courtesy of Tim Olk
Photo courtesy of Tim Olk
Photo courtesy of Tim Olk
Photo courtesy of Tim Olk
Photo courtesy of Tim Olk
A special thanks to Tim Olk for the use of the pictures in this post. Olk isthe Region Director For ( Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, Indiana ) And The State Coordinator (Illinois) for the International Fire Photographers Association. He has been taking pictures at fire scenes for close to 30 years in Northern Illinois And Chicago. Check out more of Olk’s photos here.
