Members attend Collapse Rescue Training

On Saturday, March 15th, at 8AM, Numerous companies from Lancaster County Fire Zone 4 met at the Paradise Township Municipal Building to utilize a Collapse Rescue Simulator from Personal Protection Equipment. \
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White Horse sent 8 members to the day’s events which gave crews the opportunity to practice removing victims from simulated building collapses and a chance for different companies to work together and build camaraderie.\
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Two scenarios were completed during the day. In the first one, Firefighter Brubaker was a “victim” of a collapse in the second floor hallway of the trailer, and was successfully rescued. This was a simpler scenario so that crews could familiarize themselves with the trailer and the process of collapse rescue itself.\
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In the second scenario, Firefighters S. Zook & P. Zook were victims of a collapse in the second floor room at the end of the hallway. During this scenario, while rescue crews were attempting the rescue, a smoke machine was used to simulate a fire, along with an air valve to simulate the sound of a natural gas leak. The rescue crews were then ordered to evacuate the trailer, and crews regrouped, and mitigated the “fire” and “gas leak”. Once that was accomplished, the rescues were reattempted. Both “victims” were successfully rescued. \
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To demonstrate how painstaking a properly executed collapse rescue can be, it took approximately 1.5 hours from start to finish for the first scenario, and approximately 3.75 hours from start to finish for the second scenario, for a total of approximately 5.25 hours spent inside the trailer by the crews.\
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During both scenarios, crews were rotated with fresh crews every 20 minutes to ensure that everyone had a chance to enter the collapse zone, and to ensure that the rescuers would not wear themselves totally out.\
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With the scenarios and post-incident critique completed, the grounds and equipment were all cleaned up, and units began to return to their respective stations by 3PM.\
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***Thanks to Paradise Township for allowing the companies to utilize the Municipal Building and grounds for the day, Thanks to the ladies who prepared the delicious food and drink for the crews all day, and thanks to Personal Protection Equipment for bringing the trailer***\
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