Crunch Time Vehicle Extrication Training Symposium

Mike Huffman, the man behind the Crunch Time Vehicle Extrication Training, Symposium flew me out to teach a class Friday September 27th to teach a classroom program that covered new vehicle technology. I presented the New Vehicle Technology: This isn’t your Father’s Olds Mobile.  This is an evolving class based off of the Hidden Hazards Webcast I did for FireRescue back in April.  The classroom was packed with 10 extrication teams, a bunch of TERC and extrication legends.

Saturday was split into several different classes that cover important tasks that need to be completed during and extrication competition. The morning classes were IC, Medical, and stabilization. The IC class covered what the judges are looking for out of the IC during the scenario. The medical class taught the personnel assigned to EMS what their tasks would be. Finally, the stabilization class was a hands on training class that had almost every kind of struts on the market for the students to learn the little tricks and tips of each brand. Experienced instructors for each group first walked the students through each stabilization scenario. Students honed their skills on side resting, roof resting, and vehicle on vehicle. Once the classroom sessions were finished, those students joined their teams toward the end of the stabilization class. A quick lunch break and the students came back and worked through each scenario with the skills they learned in the morning. The instructors were on handwork each team to provide critiques of the teams.

Sunday was the extrication competition where 10 competed in two pits, a limited and unlimited pit.  The competition was on governed by TERC rules and the judges were TERC US and TERC Canada members.  Below are a bunch of pictures from the competition.  Some teams completed their scenario within the 20 minute time limit, others ran out of time.  The important part is the judges debriefed each team on their scores and where they missed points and how to improve next time out.  What I really liked about how Mike Huffman set up Crunch Time Extrication was it is all about firefighters learning.  One rule Mike has is no team member can compete for more than two years.  That ensures there is no stacked team that wins the competition year after year.  It also ensures a ton of firefighters go thru Crunch Time over years.

Hats off to the Harlem Roscoe Fire Protection District where Mike is a Lieutenant and Swedish American Hospital, the event couldn’t be pulled off without their support.   Can’t wait until next year!