Firefighters practice improvising to help accident victims

SOUTHBRIDGE - The big tools save many lives, but firefighters were told Saturday that sometimes the small things are just as useful.

Using rubber bands, kitchen spoons and knives, zip ties, dish soap and other easily found items, they solved problems of how to rescue someone causing the least harm and trauma to the victim.

"We want to get them familiar with using tools, but also keeping everything simplistic," said Paul LaRochelle Jr., a Worcester fire lieutenant and a trainer working for P.L. Vulcan Fire Training Concepts. The company, based in Long Island, New York, specializes in firefighter training.

Lt. LaRochelle and Paul Trahon, a lieutenant in the Brookline Fire Department, put firefighters and emergency medical technicians from Southbridge, Worcester, Providence, Charlton and Auburn, and even a doctor from UMass Memorial Medical Center, through their paces. They used various scenarios to teach them how to respond to emergencies that require finesse with an assortment of homemade or practical tools. Working in a shop at 108 Guelphwood Road, they used dummies and sometimes one another to practice the techniques.

One of the scenarios was a car crash victim impaled by a sign post. With the victim still seated in the passenger seat and the post through him and the seat, some of the large cutting tools would have put the victim at risk of more bodily damage. Instead, the firefighters used a portable band saw to cut off the post in front of and behind the victim and a box cutter to remove padding behind the seat to allow the post to be cut as close as possible to the victim and a backboard to be placed to stabilize him.

The other three scenarios were someone with a ring stuck on their finger causing them pain; a person who fell and became impaled on a fence post; and a person who got a hand caught in a meat grinder.

To solve these problems, like MacGyver, they were expected to improvise. "MacGyver" is a television show in which the star uses simple items to solve difficult problems.

The firefighters employed rubber bands and a zip tie to try to slide the ring off after it was soaped up. If the ring was still too difficult to remove by that method, they used a Dremel tool to cut the ring, taking care not to injure the person. They also used small metal cutters as well, if the ring can't be saved.

Lt. LaRochelle said one situation the Worcester Fire Department encountered was someone who showed up at UMass Memorial Medical Center with a finger stuck in a weight bar. The finger was in one of the holes where pins are normally placed to increase or decrease weight. They ended up cutting the bar on either side, using a spoon to keep the saw from hitting the victim and then splitting the last bit open to free the finger.

The meat grinder may have been the most realistic scenario. They used a chicken leg and a meat grinder, both donated by Stearns Meat Market in Charlton, according to Charlton Fire Capt. Rob Barton. He said they also received donations from Arnie's Autobody in Charlton.

In cutting the meat grinder off the chicken leg, Lt. Trahon explained that the goal is to bring as much of the person's trapped body part as possible to the hospital without killing or crippling him.

Lt. LaRochelle said the scenario where a person is impaled is not unusual. He said firefighters have been dealing with increasing numbers of accidents where vehicles hit buildings. Sometimes a fence post or another projectile will impale someone.

Each situation is different, he said, so firefighters need to be able to improvise.