On Wednesday December 15, 2014 at about 3:30 PM, the company was dispatched to the area of Hillendale Road and McComb Lane in Kennett Township for an auto accident with entrapment. Crews arrived to find a two vehicle accident with one vehicle on its side. The driver of this vehicle had to be extricated from the vehicle using a same side/opposing force stabilization method and the Jaws of Life. Once the roof was folded down, the driver was packaged onto a backboard and transferred to MICU 25.

The Rescue crews were able to free the driver in approximately 13 minutes. The crews discovered that the center post on the Ford Focus was constructed of ultra-high strength boron reinforced steel that delayed the extrication time. Our primary Jaws of Life cutter has a maximum cutting force of over 152,000 pounds. With this type of force, the cutter can typically cut through any part of a vehicle with only one cut. It took the crews three cuts to get through the center post of the Focus. This just demonstrates how often vehicle construction changes and how it impacts firefighting efforts. The LFC members train every Tuesday night to develop faster ways to mitigate issues that arise, such as this one, during emergency situations. Stop in any Tuesday night at 7pm to see how our training pays off when it matters most.