New equipment, old techniques help JFRD extricate driver from crushed car

Jacksonville Fire Rescue Department crews prepare for just about every situation

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Both new and old equipment help keep Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department crews prepared for just about every situation, including Monday night when they extricated a driver from a car crushed by a concrete pole.

It took more than 20 minutes to get the driver out of the vehicle after firefighters said the driver crashed into a concrete light pole and the pole fell on top of the car. The dramatic rescue along Gate Parkway near Southside Boulevard was captured on video, which was tweeted out from the JFRD Twitter account

Randy Wyse, president of the Jacksonville Association of Firefighters, said the technical expertise of the Special Operations Team and new equipment helped crews get the driver out of a tight spot and quickly to a hospital. 

"It has to be very slow because you have a patient underneath it, making sure you don't injure him even more," Wyse told News4Jax on Tuesday.

He said crews also used some old techniques to lift the concrete pole. 

"As you look at the video, you'll also see they were using rope and pulleys and trying to get a mechanical advantage to move something very heavy," Wyse said. 

Many times, one of the emergency medical service team members will climb inside to start treating patients during the extrication process.

No matter the situation, the JFRD team is prepared. One ladder truck downtown holds more than 100 pieces of equipment -- things as small as a windshield cutter to the large Jaws of Life, one of the newer pieces of equipment that is now battery-powered and easier to use to cut through a car. 

JFRD is good at what they do. Its team competed and won a national extrication competition last week at the Florida State College at Jacksonville Fire Academy. During the competition, members of the JFRD team met with other teams, learning new life-saving techniques that they will implement into their own response plans.

Now, for the first time, the JFRD team will be competing at Worlds in Paris.