Three observers, 16 students and one instructor gathered at Wilkie the weekend of Oct. 15 for a 20-hour Jaws of Life course.
After time in the classroom, they gathered in an empty field south of Wilkie and starting cutting up vehicles. By Sunday afternoon, they were rescuing dummies and live "victims" from smashed, crashed and squashed automobiles.
Wilkie Fire Chief Randy Elder said, upon completion of the course, the 16 students (volunteer firefighters primarily from Wilkie, but also from Unity and Cut Knife) would be certified in Level 1 Extraction.
Instructor Bill Lacombe of Langham, trainer with and owner of Trans-Care Rescue, has been teaching rescue and extraction for more than 18 years. Before starting Trans-Care Rescue, he was in the Canadian military in the medical service and has also served as an EMT in Saskatchewan. He was especially pleased to see members of three different fire departments working together and described it as being "a real plus for the communities."
Lacombe also noted the commitment put in by those attending the course, as each gave up a weekend in order to learn skills for preventing further injuries to others and saving lives.
"And not just the guys," he said, "their families make a commitment too as this is family time that is being lost."
Being a volunteer firefighter is a big commitment and the time put in on weekends is not always fully appreciated by the communities concerned.
Over the course of the two days in the field, students practised their new skills on 16 different vehicles, tearing apart cars, pickup trucks, a minivan and a school bus.
