Burnaby firefighters were at a local recycling facility this weekend practising pulling people from cars squished under heavy transport trucks.
It’s a scenario fraught with hazards for firefighters and crash victims alike, according to fire Captain Kris Anderson, the lead instructor.
“When you’re dealing with really heavy objects like that, it requires some specialized training to keep everyone safe,” he said.
Motor vehicle accidents make up a large percentage of the fire department’s calls, he said, and firefighters have to be ready for anything.
“Being that Burnaby’s such a busy transportation hub, we have a lot of different vehicles moving through the community, so we want to prepare our people across the board,” he said.
The firefighters who took part in Sunday’s training session are actually new instructors who will teach other firefighters what they learned as part of their ongoing training, according to Anderson.
In the past, he said, such training has mostly taken place at the Burnaby Fire Department’s training facility at Fire Hall 1.
This year, however, instructors got to set up two scenarios at ABC Recycling in the Big Bend area, thanks to the generosity of general manager Jason Copak.
Both simulations involved a heavy transport truck – a tanker and a semi-trailer – that had rolled onto a passenger vehicle.
Firefighters learned to stabilize and even lift the heavy trucks with special heavy-rescue equipment.
“It opens up a whole avenue of training,” Anderson said of training at the recycling facility. “It certainly assists us to be able to go down there because they have a multitude of old heavy trucks and any number of things.”
Mundie’s Towing general manager Rick Pennington was also on hand with one of that company’s heavy duty recovery trucks.
Anderson said the fire department works with local service providers like Mundie’s during real rescues if one of their heavy trucks is available, but the fire department is also equipped to go it alone if need be.
