Firefighters practice rescuing victim trapped in vehicle during 4-car pileup

IDAHO FALLS – Rescuing someone trapped inside a vehicle sandwiched between two other vehicles with a school bus on top is quite an undertaking. But that’s exactly what happened during a training exercise with the Idaho Falls Fire Department earlier this week.

Firefighters gathered in shifts throughout the day at Pacific Recycling at 1155 North Higbee Avenue for day two of a three-day training involving the department and Hendrickson’s Towing. The training began with about 30 minutes of verbal instruction before getting into the hands-on portion.

EastIdahoNews.com spoke with Idaho Falls Fire Department Captain Tyler Weddle just before Tuesday’s training got underway. He explained the steps involved in successfully performing this type of rescue operation.

“When we show up on a scene, we’re going to identify how many patients we have. Based on that and the complexity of the incident, we’re going to call for additional resources,” Weddle says. “In this situation, we’re going to take off the rear hatch door of the vehicle and tunnel in … remove the seats, reach the victim and start medical care.”

Additional steps are involved, depending on the situation. Since the practice vehicle during Tuesday’s training was trapped under a bus, firefighters had to stabilize the bus and relieve some of the pressure it was putting on the vehicles underneath it before a rescue attempt could even begin. See how it works in the video player above.