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Extrication Mini-Games Drill
By Second Assistant Chief Jordan Roblee
Wednesday April 23, 2025
The Chaffee-Sardinia Fire Company takes pride in the wide range of rescue equipment that it offers to the Town of Sardinia and surrounding communities. Over the past few years, significant upgrades have been made to our cache of hydraulic rescue tools, rescue struts, lifting airbags, hand tools and Rapid Intervention equipment. We also recognize that in order to use the equipment safely and efficiently, significant training is required. Using some of our rescue equipment on an emergency scene is uncommon, and the skills required to operate this equipment is perishable. To keep these skills fresh in our minds, our members played some "extrication mini-games" over the weekend. Members who attended received a valuable two hours of hands-on time with our equipment. Rehashing these basic skills will prepare members for more involved extrication drills in the coming months.
The first activity was a fire department twist on the popular game "JENGA." Members used the spreaders to remove cribbing blocks from the stack and place them on top. This activity covered turning on and handling our Amkus battery powered spreader. Assistant Chief Roblee was responsible for knocking down the stack twice!
The second activity involved using our lifting airbags to navigate a hockey ball through a wooden maze. Our lifting airbags can lift thousands of pounds of weight, but require careful control to keep the load steady. Firefighters methodically inflated and deflated the airbags to tilt the table and guide the hockey ball through the maze. Clear communication between the crew leader and controller operator was critical.
The last activity was to cut a piece of rebar lodged between two pallets. This required a coordinated effort between four firefighters to spread the pallets apart, use cribbing to stabilize the load and cut the rebar. Our Amkus hydraulic cutters and spreaders were used for this operation. While three firefighters performed the cutting and spreading operation, a fourth firefighter operated the hydraulic power unit. Connecting hydraulic hoses to and operating the power unit is a perfect example of a skill that requires regular practice.
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