The Southeast Pearl River County Volunteer Fire Department recently received a new set of battery operated extrication tools, often referred to as jaws of life.
Those new tools were put to the test a week later when firemen rescued two men from an overturned vehicle in less than 18 minutes upon arrive on the scene.
Southeast Pearl River County Fire Department Chief Mark McCormick said his department is the first in the state to purchase the TNT brand cutter and spreader. The new tools cost $17,000.
“They will replace an aging set of hydraulically-operated tools that require a hydraulic pack and hoses to run,” McCormick said. “The new ones run on battery and are quicker and easier to handle.”
The extrication tools are used to free people who are trapped in vehicles, he said. The new tools will be kept at the Salem station.
“We put them on a smaller truck, which covers Ceasar Road and 43 South,” McCormick said. “The new tools will save time and provide much easier handling for our volunteers.”
Monday at 6:30 a.m., firefighters put their new tools to the test while responding to single-vehicle accident in the 500 block of Ceasar Road.
McCormick said the vehicle left the road and struck a driveway embankment. Two adult males, who sustained critical injuries, were trapped inside the vehicle, he said.
“We were on scene within six minutes and, even with being a complicated extrication, had them both out in 18 minutes,” McCormick said.
Ochsner’s Flight Care Rescue I and Rescue 7 transported both adults to the trauma center at Forrest County Hospital where they were treated for their injuries.