Local firefighters receive donation from nonprofit that will help them with vehicle wrecks
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AMMON — A local fire district has been given new equipment to help firefighters extract people stuck inside vehicles during a wreck.
Bonneville County Fire District #1 Ammon Division was recently donated the jaws of life. Heroes Defense, a local nonprofit organization, donated two extrication tools worth about $23,000, which are cutters and spreaders.
“One of them is basically a giant pair … you can either crimp down or spread them apart and if we need to pull a door open or take a roof off (a car), the cutters are basically just like a giant pair of snips so it can cut through the structure of the frame of the car or we can go through the hood or the floor,” said Capt. Jon Molbert, with BCFD1.
The best part of the new equipment is that it is battery-operated compared to the old equipment.
“We don’t have to have any hoses or pumps or anything to drag around. It’s going to make our response so much faster to be able to get the patient out of the car if they are trapped inside,” Molbert explained.
It additionally takes less time to set up and extract a patient out of a vehicle when responding.
“Even if we have a vehicle or an accident like on a roadway that’s easily accessible, to get the old tools out and set up all the hoses, we are probably three to five minutes before we are cutting on the car but with this new stuff, we can literally grab it off the truck and walk straight to the vehicle and so we are under a minute … under 30 seconds to be able to actually start working on getting that patient out,” he said.
Minutes are extremely valuable during big car wrecks, he said. Molbert and some firefighters showed EastIdahoNews.com how the new tools worked on a car they had used for training. Watch in the video player above.
The money for the two new pieces of equipment came from a 9/11 fundraising banquet and auction that Heroes Defense put on last year, which raised nearly $150,000. The event is expected to be even larger this year and will be held at the Mountain America Center on Sept. 9. Click here for details.
“We try to fill in gaps for first responders with new equipment with where they need. Ammon told us about a need they had with some equipment. The current equipment they had was aging and we worked with them to find some new equipment and get it funded,” said Travis Snowder, co-founder of Heroes Defense.
Seeing where the money from the 9/11 fundraising event goes is a rewarding feeling for co-founder of Heroes Defense Garrett Meikle.
“It’s fun to see the donations move into actual tangible things that the fire department gets to use and here today, actually seeing the fruits of all the community coming together and putting resources that got these tools into these firefighters hands…it’s a community mission and a community purpose and we are grateful for everybody,” Meikle said.
According to its website, “Heroes Defense provides support, resources, and aid to those individuals fighting for our freedoms and the American way of life. Heroes Defense, organized by Paul Davis and Qal-Tek Associates, stands to defend our nation’s heroes and ensure their bravery is both recognized and rewarded.”
“We appreciate Heroes Defense on everything they do for our department and for the community and the other first responders,” Molbert added. “They are a huge asset to all of us. They are always helping out and looking out for us.”
