Extrication Training with Bob, "The Extricator" Sandry
Curriculum
01. Skills Assessment Presentation
Is the team made up of veterans or newbies? What skills do they have?
Tool checklist assessment: What is required? What do you own? How familiar are you with your own equipment and where it’s kept? How to stage the equipment to avoid chaos. How to train as you work, and work as you train to develop muscle memory.
02. Stabilization Drills - 2 Hours
For maximum safety, you must make sure that the vehicle doesn’t move. We cover how to stabilize a vehicle from on its wheels or outside or on a truck. The first exercise is to make sure the vehicle is solid and stable enough to remove parts and create an exit point for the patient or the trapped person.
03. Extrication Tools of the Trade - 30 Minutes
There are a variety of tools used in the stablization process. We will discuss how to use each one to make a solid base for EMS and Firefighters to work off of, package a patient, and be able to make an exit point for the patient out of the vehicle. Tools discussed are: Hand tools, recip saws, hydraulic tools, cribbing, struts, and wedges, and step blocks.
04. Hands on Extrication - 4 hour or 8 hour
No 2 rescues are the same. Perform scene size up, make a plan, allow the plan to change. What do we need to do - door removal? full side removal? roof removal? dash lift? dash roll? What will be the best outcome for the patient? We do extrication training to emulate the true life scenes you will see in your service to your community.
This is the basic checklist and what we’ll spend the most time on in hands-on experience. While there are bigger and more expensive extrication tools, more training and knowledge of stabilization in all scenarios is more important than expensive tools.
No one ever believes they have enough tools. And budget limitations are real. The question becomes a matter of safety. For example, when there’s a vehicle on its side, and you don’t have struts, you’ve got 10 guys standing there holding the car so you can cut off the roof. But with a set of $7,000 struts, you can eliminate those 10 guys holding the roof. Minus a big budget, the creativity of the volunteer service or professional comes into play. How else can you solve an extrication problem? This is what your training includes.
Then, as budget and training allows, you may want to add to your equipment inventory with the following items:
FREE
Wooden Step Block Pattern
Bob “The Extricator” Sandry is not a fan of plastic cribbing, so he still uses the wooden step blocks he made by hand 24 years ago. “The plastic stuff never stays solidly cribbed,” he says. “It’ll work itself loose in the elements because it’s plastic, it’s slippery, and I just never had confidence in them. Plus they cost 5 or 6 times as much as one you make yourself out of wood.”
Get Bob’s free pattern here. Save on cribbing tool costs, and set up a production line in your station for everyone to make their own block sets that will last forever.