When you have an accident, time isn’t on your side if you’re injured. That’s when the new tools and techniques used by Santa Cruz County firefighters could save your life.

Rio Rico firefighters Mike Urbanski and Teddy Sang use a ram to gain access to a vehicle passenger compartment.

Firefighters can now gain entry to a vehicle at an accident site much faster and safer than they could 10 or 20 years ago. Training makes the difference, said Rio Rico training officer Dave Aho.

Twenty-four firefighters from departments throughout Santa Cruz County recently took advanced extrication training given by instructors from Hurst, the makers of the Jaws of Life and other extrication tools. The training was given over three-days at Rio Rico Station 2, where cars were set up in accident situations for the training.

The training began Nov. 4 with classroom work, said Larry Anderson, lead instructor for Hurst Jaws of Life. Application of techniques on the crashed vehicles began Friday. “Today, we’re applying everything we talked about yesterday, as well as we’re talking about the new types of steel in the vehicles. The old cars, 12 years ago, had two types of steel in them �“ mild steel and high-strength steel. Today’s vehicles have six types of steel and highly reinforced structures to make the passenger compartment safer.”

The firefighters participated in scenario-based training with newer vehicles provided by the Border Patrol, Anderson said.

The training centered on using Hurst’s Jaws of Life and other rescue tools. The Jaws date back to the 1960s, when George Hurst Performance Products supplied tools to the National Hot Rod Association to get drivers out of crashed race cars.

“In 1971, the very first hand-held hydraulic rescue came in. The Jaws of Life are hydraulic rescue tools �“ they’re gas or electric hydraulic-powered spreaders, hydraulic cutters, hydraulic rams. Spreaders spread material away, cutters sever the structures and rams push other structures further out of the way.”

The firefighters learned different rescue techniques using the tools, Anderson said. “What we’re doing here is a combination of door removal, roof removal, dash displacement and internal entrapments where they get caught between the seats. We’re doing a lot of removal of structures in the vehicles and disentanglement that can happen to people inside the vehicle.”

The Rio Rico Fire Department has 31 full-time and 12 reserve firefighters, Aho said. Reserves are a part-time organization. “We call them out as needed, but they also have to do a certain amount of hours a month to keep their training and experience up to date. We have four reserves out there training now.”

The training session was intentionally kept to 24 fighters to have a good instructor-to-firefighter ratio, Aho said. Three Hurst instructors participated in the training, Aho said, Dennis Edwards, the Western Regional manager; Larry Anderson, Hurst lead instructor; and Daryl Kim, a Hurst instructor employed by Allen Curtis and Sons.

The training included the Jaws of Life, which is considered the spreaders, along with cutters and rams, Aho said. “The ram is used to lift and roll the dashboard to pull people. When people are trapped underneath the dashboard we actually roll the dashboard up to provide room to remove the patients from the vehicle.”

In addition to Aho, five instructors from the Rio Rico fire department will be able to continue training on the equipment during future training, Aho said.

Rio Rico has the minimal Hurst equipment required to affect a rescue, Aho said. “We don’t have what we should or would like to have. This is where Hurst comes into play. They bring the equipment. If we were to do this, we would be pulling our extrication equipment off our frontline vehicles to do this training. If a call came down, there would be a delay to put the equipment back in to respond to the call.”

The equipment is expensive, Aho said. “The equipment we have is through grant writing. For a simple cutter, spreader and ram with a power unit, we’re looking at $30,000 to $35,000.” Rio Rico has complete sets on the ladder truck at Station 2, on the engine at Station 1 and one on the backup/wildland engine, Aho said. “It’s the minimal. I’m working on a grant that goes for Station 3. We’re hoping to be able to purchase that.”

The training helps firefighters learn the safest way to extricate a person from a vehicle, Aho said. “In the past, it was normal for a person to take the spreaders and ram them into the door to get a purchase point to begin opening the door. Now, where we have the side-curtain air bags, driver’s airbags and seat airbags. You ram a 40-pound piece of equipment into one of those doors and there’s a high probability of setting off one of those airbags and further injuring a victim inside the car. What we’re teaching them today is methods to gain entry and minimize further injury to the victims inside.”

The public benefits, Aho said. “If they’re involved in a collision, we’re teaching our people how to get into the vehicle safer and much quicker than before. It’s amazing, with (some of) the students we have out here right now, they haven’t been taught any of the basics we’re teaching here. They’re still using a Kelly Bar and sledge hammer to make a purchase point, which is going to be damaging the vehicle and shaking the vehicle. Overall, it’s the community �“ the motorist driving down the street �“ who’s going to benefit the most. The firefighters benefit because it’s less work for them.”

The new equipment and techniques save time, Aho said. “I personally have seen in the past where it took them 20 and 30 minutes to gain entry into a victim. Now they’re getting in in less than five minutes. It’s very critical. The quicker we can get in and start treating the patient ... it’s a tremendous help.”

This is the third year for Rio Rico firefighter David Howard to participate in the training. “This time there’s a focus on the exotic metals, the positions your car lands in and the different torquing of metals. We did a lot of ram work. We’re focusing on moving things, rather than just cutting.”

The training will help firefighters in their duties, Howard said. “The way we crush the cars up and the way we position them is pretty real-time. Getting out here and getting all your kinks worked out is going to allow firefighters to be smoother and get their work done much quicker and more efficiently. It’s safer for the patient.”