By BRYCE MARTIN
Pioneer Editor | bmartin@countrymedia.net
Each year a number of fire, ambulance and first responders from the area refreshes their emergency rescue skills by holding a mock automobile extrication.
Chris Palczewski, Bowman Volunteer Fire Chief, is an extrication instructor with the fire department and works to maintain the necessary 2-year certifications in “the art of extrication.”
Extrication is the process of removing a vehicle from around a person who has been involved in a motor vehicle accident, when conventional means of exit are impossible or inadvisable. A delicate approach is needed to minimize injury to the victim during the extrication.
Last week, members of Bowman Rescue and other local fire departments staged a mock scenario where a truck overturned and its driver had no way to exit. The truck’s metal would have to be torn off around them.
Bowman Fire Dept. and Bowman Ambulance work together to form Bowman Rescue, whose certification guidelines are set by the North Dakota Department of Health and the North DakotaFirefighters Association. They hold standards for the department’s Heavy Rescue Certification—five personnel must be certified as an emergency medical responder and five must be certified to conduct automobile extrication. There is a long list of tools and medical equipment the departments must have certified, too.
A minimum of one medical and two automobile extrication personnel must respond to all calls and be available seven days a week, 24 hours a day.
