When the New London, Missouri Fire Department was awarded an Assistance to Firefighters grant in October 2016, they selected Paratech struts and air bags to load up their newly purchased rescue truck.
Adding four sets of struts and a five air bag set, the equipment arrived in August 2017 and was placed in service soon thereafter following training by Banner Fire Company.
The day after the equipment was placed in service, it went to work on a vehicle accident with entrapment in a neighboring department’s response area.
“We arrived on scene with the patient’s leg trapped between the drivers side seat & drivers side door while the vehicle was laying on the driving side,” Safety/Training Officer Rodney Spires said. “We grabbed our 3.5 ton bag and as the chief worked the valves I climbed into the vehicle to insert the bag next to her leg. Chief aired up the bag about 50% and that was enough to remove her leg. We then used our rescue tools to cut the roof of the vehicle to extract the patient.”
The patient was out of the vehicle within five minutes of arriving on scene.
New London selected Paratech on the recommendation of another department, Hannibal, who “had great luck with the equipment,” Spires said. The departments can also interchange their equipment as needed when working on a scene together.