06-08-23 SMFD Newsletter #11

New Hire Training - Swiftwater

Our newest recruits were put through their paces this past week while undergoing swiftwater training at Rio Vista Park! The recruits were taught how to safely swim in turbulent and fast-moving water and how to focus on obstacle avoidance while in the water so as to avoid self-injury while attempting to make contact with a victim. They are also taught about ferry angles in order to use the force and direction of the water to their advantage to make it across to the far bank. The crew worked on getting familiar with their equipment and gear and were able to practice with the throw-bag as well (used to help rescue victims from the bank).

New Hire Training - Extrication

Our 4 new hires were shown how to utilize the tools at their disposal to perform numerous techniques, two of which are called a B-post blowout and a 5th-door conversion. These are techniques used to remove the B-post and one or both doors of the automobile in order to provide more workable space to help remove a victim from inside the vehicle. The crew are also shown how to safely stabilize a vehicle to prevent any further injury to a victim due to unforeseen movement. The crew are taught to work both efficiently and accurately in order to remain within the Golden Hour - the time of injury to the time of surgical intervention - to ensure that patient care is administered as expediently as possible.

Patient assessment and care is often administered by the crew during the extrication process as well and is reinforced with our new hires during this training.

Fire Term of the Week

The stage of fire when all surfaces and objects are heated to their ignition temperature (flash point) and flame breaks out almost at once over the entire surface.