Members of the Oakland and Franklin Lakes volunteer fire departments recently went through vehicle extraction training at the storage yard of Dynasty Towing in Oakland. With our proximity to routes 208 and 287, our members routinely respond to auto accidents on both roadways and more often than not an extraction from a crashed vehicle is required.

Training was conducted by Joe Alvarez, an instructor at the Bergen County Fire Academy and Sal Aliano. Both Joe and Sal are certified Jack instructors and that it the training that the fire department members received.

The firefighters were instructed in the proper technique for securing a vehicle that has been turned on its side or has flipped on its roof. Additionally the firefighters continued their training on various hydraulic tools such as Spreaders, which are used to open doors, hoods and spreading various parts of cars, SUVs and trucks open, and are capable of either pushing or pulling. The men also trained in using Sheers that are designed to cut through most materials present on autos. They also used combination Spreader/Shears.

Instructor Sal Aliano focused his training with the firemen on how to properly secure an auto that has been flipped on its side. Through the use of chains, jacks and cribbing an auto that is on its side can be secured well enough so that the car is immobile and the extraction of a victim inside can be undertaken.

Instructor Joe Alvarez worked with the men to train them on the best use of cribbing on a vehicle as well as pneumatic lifting bags. In addition to the proper use of these items Instructor Alvarez also tough the men how to determine the maximum weight that wood cribbing can handle in various sizes (4x4, 6X6, 8x*, etc) and how to calculate the maximum weight pneumatic lifting bags can handle by using the size of the bag and a weight formula to determine the maximum weight each bag can lift.

Besides just learning the best techniques for stabilizing an auto for passenger extraction, firefighters also trained on how to remove glass from the vehicles, how to properly cut back a roof to extract a pinned victim both when an auto is upright or on its side, and the fastest way to cut back a hood.

The Oakland and Franklin Lakes Fire Departments would like to thank our instructors Joe Alvarez and Sal Aliano for donating their time towards our training. We would also like to make a very special Thank You to the owners of Dynasty Towing in Oakland who not only donated their storage yard for our training but also donated 5 different vehicles for us to use for this training.