Industry partners for safety initiative
The National Auto Body Council (NABC), Caliber Collision and State Farm teamed up recently with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to host a First Responder Emergency Extrication (FREE) training programme.
Catering for 75 firefighters, representing 14 fire and rescue companies throughout Virginia, Maryland and New York the programme was designed to provide specialised instruction on the safest, fastest way to extricate accident victims from vehicles constructed with today’s high-strength materials and advanced technologies.
‘With limited budgets, training opportunities like this are invaluable,’ said John Burruss, training officer for the Charlottesville (VA) Fire Department. ‘Knowing where and how to efficiently cut and extricate can make the difference in saving lives as well as the safety of our first responders.’
The First Responder Emergency Extrication programme event was sponsored by Caliber Collision and offered at no cost to fire departments as a community service programme. Late-model vehicles for the training programme were donated by State Farm. Training instruction and extrication tools were provided by Holmatro Rescue Equipment.
‘As collision industry professionals, we understand the complexities of today’s new car technology. We are committed to do all we can do to help provide our first responders with training resources that will benefit our community and help save lives,’ said Chuck Sulkala, executive director of the National Auto Body Council.
