Reprint from The
Peterborough
Transcript
FF Bill Sweet shows off the new tools.
Dara Vernier-Peterborough
Transcript 4/22/04
PETERBOROUGH-The
fire department
will break in some new
rescue
equipment this week. With $31,000 from the capital improvement fund,
the department was able to purchase Jaws of Life, to replace a
23-year-old set of
rescue tools.
The
Peterborough Fire
Department
was one of the first towns in the area to use the Jaws of Life, which
were developed over 30 years ago. The tools are generally used at
accident scenes to extricate people from vehicles.
According to
firefighter Jon Sawyer, the department responds to at least 50 car
accidents every year in
Peterborough
alone. Some years, said Sawyer, the Jaws of Life are used once a
month, at the most. But, he said, they are invaluable tools when it
comes to saving lives.
"When you
need to use them, it's the only thing that works," he said.
The Jaws can
also be used for forcible entry into buildings, or to enter a building
that has collapsed.
The Jaws of
Life is not actually one tool; it is the name given to a set of many
different tools, including portable power units, spreading and cutting
tools, devices called "rams" and other ancillary equipment.
A new set of
tools was deemed necessary because the old set was "coming to the end
of its service life," according to a statement from the department.
The current set was only partially in service after breaking down last
year.
Also,
because newer cars are made from higher strength boron steel and micro
alloys, the old Jaws had difficulty penetrating the material,
according to a statement from Deputy Chief Julie Thibault.
Prior to the
development of the Jaws of Life, the
fire department
generally used a combination of hack saws, chisels, chains and hammers
to remove victims of motor vehicle accidents from their mangled cars.
This required a lot of time and manpower, besides the fact that cars
used to be more pliable. Eventually, hydraulic tools were developed to
make access to accident victims quicker.
According
to a statement from the
fire department
to the Board of Selectmen, "Powered
rescue tools
are not a luxury...have never been a luxury."
The department
purchased the Jaws from a company called Holmatro, which was awarded
the bid in December.
For the
last two weeks, firefighters and emergency personnel have been running
tests on the Jaws, to be sure everything is operational before it is
put into use. |
