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Wednesday October 28 2015 9 Fort Smith firefighters redefine weekend warrior By CRAIG GILBERT FortSmithresidentscanfeelalittlesaferon the road thanks to an assist from Hay River. The border towns volunteer fire depart- ment conducted vehicle rescue training at the landfill all weekend and Chief Westly Steed was grateful Hay River Volunteer Fire Department Captain Terence Fischer made the drive over to help instruct. Thatcommunitysfiredepartmentgetsalot more traffic and are responsible for a lot more road.Translationalotmorevehicleextrications. Hes done way more practical extrications than we have Steed explained. Hes seen more accidents and knows more about how to get people out so rather than our guys going off the book and looking at pictures we have someone with hands-on experience. It takes the pressure off our more senior guys and lets them learn too instead. Ten Fort Smith volunteer firefighters took part in the training which included practi- cal scenarios involving rescue from vehicles bothwithandwithoutcuttingawaytheframe. They also did a practical and written exam for territory-level certification. Fischer let the crews run through the rescue scenarios of- fering advice when a wrinkle crept up. The younger firefighters with less experi- ence with the tools in turn were allowed to find their own way with hydraulic cutters power jigsaws and the jaws of life and man- ual tools including glass cutters and every firefighters go-to tool the powerful combi- nation of a clawfork a bladewedgeadze and tapered pick known as the Halligan. Theyre learning how to use the tools and how to assess the situation and make the proper choices to remove the vehicle from the patient - not the other way around - so they arent injured any further Steed said. Everyone in the department has to be able to do everything - SCBA driving the pumper servicing equipment and doing extrications. These guys gave up their Friday night and their weekend to train so I hope the town and the community appreciates it. Im ex- tremely happy with how it turned out. Firefighters peeled the sedan open like a can of sardines in order to free Rescue Randy as the dummy is known and firefighter Corey Mercredi during training last weekend. Fort Smith firefighters simulated the process of peeling a vehicle away from a person in a crash in this case a Chevy Impala with a stubbon drivers door last weekend. Fort Smith firefighter Darrell Loutit cuts away one of the A posts supporting the roof and windshield during a simulated rescue Oct. 24. The training lasted all weekend. PhotosCraigGilbert After almost 20 minutes Rescue Randy is freed from his wrecked Chevy Impala and eased onto a stabilizing body board for his short trip to the ambulance. EDUCATION FIREFIGHTER TRAINING