Effectively Rescuing Occupants During A Car Accident

OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)- Whether it’s a car with a busted windshield shield or a car that’s overturned, when fire fighters get called out to a car accident their first mission is to save everyone who’s inside.

“When the call is dispatched you’re always running through your mind what the different scenarios are,” said Austin Check, Training Officer with the Oktibbeha County Volunteer Fire Department. “Experience plays in a lot here. The more experience you have the better the  game-plan.”

One way to get that experience is through training.

All week long volunteer firemen in Oktibbeha County have been learning the “do’s and don’ts” when it comes to rescuing someone from a car accident.

The first respondenrs were learning how to use the Jaws of Life along with other rescue tools to get people out of a mangled vehicle.

On Thursday, the firemen put their training to the test during a training exercise where they were tasked with using the Jaws of Life to pry open doors and other parts of the vehicle to rescue those trapped inside.

“All of this is about getting to the patient,” said Check. “It’s not  inflicting damage on the vehicle. We do the minimal amount that we have to do to rapidly get that patient out in a safe and effective manner.”

Check has been a member of the Oktibbeha County Volunteer Fire Department for nearly a decade.

Throughout his career he’s responded to multiple scenes similar to the scenarios in the exercise.

He said the precious moments from when responders first get on scene, to when they’re rescuing the occupants trapped inside, can be the big difference between life and death.

“There’s only so much you can do if a person is still in the car,” Check explained. “We need to be able to look at them in their entirety, and when they’re stuck in the car there’s less time to do other things. Of course a lot of other factors come in. We can launch a helicopter and land it nearby or on scene if possible, but the goal is to get the patient out as quickly as possible and get them to a higher level of care.”

Once the patient has been rescued from the car, Check said they’re then in the hands of the EMT who’s there to provide patient care to the victims.

“The main treatment we believe in just making sure C-Spine (cervical spine) is always in line, making sure we do no more damage,” said Shedrick Hogan, Assistant Manager of OCH’s Emergency Medical Service. “Getting them out as easy and as fast as we can because there’s always this thing called the “Golden Hour.” We need to make sure we try to get the patient out to an emergency room on an operating table within an hour.”

“The “do” is everything that we do is for the patient,” Check expressed. “The “don’t” is, don’t forget about safety. We can’t help anybody if we’re hurting ourselves, if were hurting the patients, so we’re going to do it as quickly as possible, but we’re going to do it in the safest way possible.”

“We’re here to help people, to preserve life, do anything we can to help that patient,” said Hogan.

The 12 hour course that the firefighters have been in all week wrapped up on Thursday.

The firemen will now receive a certification of completion from the Mississippi Fire Academy.