It looks like a movie set of an action film. The tailings of high-speed pursuits, including a car protruding out of the side of a coach bus, are strewn across a gravel lot. The dramatic worst case scenario scenes are fictional but the women and men in uniform surrounding the debris are very much real.
“You may be on the fire department three to four years and never have an incident like this and yet, all of a sudden, you’re thrown into that mix and you don’t know how to deal with it so we are here to coach and guide,” said Randy Schmitz, chairperson of Alberta Vehicle Extrication Association.
Approximately 160 firefighters from across the country are in Olds, Alta., this weekend learning about heavy extrication — rare scenarios that come with great risk — as part of the Western Canada Advanced Rescue Symposium. The course was created more than a decade ago by Schmitz who is also a captain with the Calgary Fire Department, his reasons are personal.
“When I first started in the fire services a long time ago I was involved in a crash and it was someone I knew and it affected me,” said Schmitz “ I lacked confidence, I wasn’t educated or skillful, I don’t think it would have changed the outcome but I did whatever I could do to not be in that situation again,”
The person in that crash sadly died. But Schmitz was determined to become the best firefighter and now trains people around the world in heavy rescue.
“It just prepares people to be ready for that magnitude of a big event,” said Schmitz.
Scenarios include a ‘Super B’ truck rollover, extricating someone out of a semi-truck and rappelling over a ledge to practise pulling someone out of a dangling car.
“Having training like this I find when you are in those high stress situations your brain will automatically default to your training,” said Hunter Drakeley a firefighter from Qualicum Beach, B.C.
“We don’t want to figure it out then we’d rather learn from experts here and figure it out before, so we have an idea what to do when those unusual things happen,” added Alaine Sharpe with Strathmore Fire Department.
There was also a bus crash scenario, reminding many of the tragedy that unfolded just last week in Manitoba.
“That’s one of the first things that crossed my mind, having a little bit of knowledge to address a call like that is great,” said Strathmore firefighter Katelyn Redekopp.
“Hopefully we will never have to do that, but we’ll have them in our back mind if we ever have to attend those calls.”
Schmitz hopes the firefighters will return home and share the information they learned with their departments, ultimately increasing the chances of everyone saving more lives.