JENGA is not extrication training
Update: Hear the discussion on the controversy surrounding this post in an episode of Kitchen Table Talk.
If I’m trapped in my car, wrapped up in mangled metal, I hope the crew that shows up didn’t spend their last extrication drill playing JENGA and gently relocating eggs.
Sorry, I’m not going to sugar coat it. We’re better than that.
We can agree that finesse, to some extent, is important in vehicle extrication. But that ‘finesse’ is relative: it comes down to not slamming tools into a purchase point, methodically working your way in to not peel the door skin away, and having a solid plan and communication to make sure everything is working in concert for the victim.
But knowing how to pinch your spreaders just enough to pick up an egg?
Training budgets can be tight or non-existent, we get that. But if you don’t have the funds to get vehicles, build the relationships with a local junkyard. Don’t have any? Find somebody with a rusted out beater in their front yard willing to let you cut it up as long as they can watch. No one like that? How about area extrication tool salesperson who’s willing to set something up at their expense to show you the latest and greatest -- you have to compare that to what you already have.
Really? You can’t find a salesperson? Okay. Fine. If you’ve really exhausted all of your options, then at the very least go through the motions.
Gently, on a staff vehicle or whoever’s willing to risk a few minor bumps and bruises in the pursuit of improvement, get to simulated work. Use a grease pencil to make marks where you would cut, carefully (and temporarily) expose areas to look behind trim, and walk through the steps and teamwork of a door pop, a side-wall removal, and tunneling through the trunk.
No, it’s not perfect. The fact is, no training is the same as real life. But training focused on our actual operations, step-by-step, with coordination — outer 360, inner 360, trim pulled, spreaders out, cutters in — is going to serve your citizens far more on your next rescue.
Leave breakfast in the kitchen. Leave JENGA in the living room. Make your crews better today than they were yesterday. Make your training count for real life, and not for the Facebook posts.
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Author’s note: I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the late Lt. Phil Bender of Florence, Ky. in this post. We had this conversation several times and it was far more heated than this -- even though we agreed completely, it was a great way to get Phil fired up. In fact, one of the most memorable (and hilarious) training videos is a slow-motion kick of a JENGA stack to reveal a car being cut apart in the background. A fireman’s fireman -- miss ya, Phil.
