Last week, the Carstairs Fire Department took to social media to show pictures of themselves practicing vehicle extractions.
Josh Van Arnam, a captain of the fire department spoke with DiscoverAirdrie and explained that every Wednesday night, they do some type of practicing.
"We always try and keep up on all of our skills because being volunteer firefighters, we have a lot of skills to deal with as you could end up taking on my different roles in an emergency."
Last Wednesday, the department practiced vehicle extractions from vehicles that were donated to them so they could hone in on their skills.
"We always practice for the most serious incidents that we're going to see. A very serious motor vehicle accident would be something that's either on its side or on its roof. The reason that it's so serious is because, typically, that patient has been thrown around in the vehicle."
The first thing they did was secure the vehicle so it would not move as much on them when trying to get the patient out.
"Once we secure the vehicle, then we create a game plan as far as what we need to remove to get the patient out. Sometimes that's the roof, sometimes it's doors, sometimes we pull them through the windshield or even the trunk."
According to Van Arnam, quite often, time is very important, so being able to show up prepared is key.
"We give them scenarios that are a little bit more extreme, so that when we have a more minor incident, it's just muscle memory, plus they are prepared for the more extreme stuff."
He finished off by saying the Carstairs Fire Department is a group of great people who always want to help out their community.
Back in June, the fire department announced that it had purchased a new life-saving piece of equipment. Thanks to $10,000 from TC Energy and $11,000 from Alberta Health Services, the department was able to purchase a Lucas device.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is performed automatically by the Lucas device. When a patient is experiencing cardiac arrest, it will help Carstairs Fire do high-quality, rhythmic, in-depth CPR.
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