It took B-CC units, along with units from Chevy Chase and Kensington, more than 45 minutes to extricate a seriously pinned patient on Connecticut Avenue in the early Sunday morning hours on June 7.
This was the first major use of the Rescue Squad’s new Amkus Model 22 hydraulic cutters that were placed in service June 3rd, thanks to a grant from Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company and Chevy Chase-based Howard Insurance Agency, Inc. (The cutters replaced an older Amkus model the Squad had been using and are designed to cut the stronger frame components prevalent on newer cars today.
At 0201 hours, Rescue Squad 741 and Medic 741 were dispatched with Chevy Chase Engine 707 to a single vehicle crash with a report of one pinned and one unconscious. Subsequently, Kensington Engine 705 was dispatched to provide additional manpower.
Engine 707 found the accident on Connecticut Avenue, between Manor Road and Jones Bridge Road, where a black 4-door Chevy Tahoe had struck a tree in the median strip at a high rate of speed. The point of impact was the driver’s side (front left) corner of the vehicle, and the impact had pushed the engine block back into the driver, pinning his legs.
After stabilizing the vehicle, RS 741’s crew first removed the driver’s side front and rear doors and then immediately cut the B, C, and D posts on both sides of the vehicle. Simultaneously, the crew of Engine 707 from Chevy Chase cut the windshield and A posts on both sides. After the last cut, the roof was removed. They then had to make a relief cut on the passenger side in order to push the dash away from the patient’s legs. This was complicated by the fact that the door frame on the driver’s side had been distorted to provide no purchase point for inserting a hydraulic ram.
Firefighter Paul Morales, who used the new cutters, remarked afterwards that they made his job of cutting the door posts quicker and easier. “It was like cutting through butter,” he said.
After removing the patient, Medic 741 transported an adult male with compound tib-fib fractures to the Suburban Hospital trauma center.
