Extrication

Abstract

Fire Services throughout the United Kingdom send officers to the Fire Service Training College at Morton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire to train in extrication skills. These officers go back to local stations and set up extrication training based on the Morton model. The course typically lasts one or two weeks depending on whether it is for retained or full time fire fighters. HEMS personnel are often invited to join the course for one or two days to take part in practical extrication exercises. No emergency group has the statutory responsibility to extricate patients from trapped wreckage. It is usual that the Police will secure the outer cordon of an incident and the Fire Service will take control of the inner cordon (the potentially hazardous area). There is national variation in the training and equipment directed at extrication provision in the UK. Not all Fire Services will send personnel to Morton as part of their training. Standards of extrication therefore vary considerably. Certain fire stations throughout the UK operate designated Rescue Tenders. Rescue Tender crews have extended training and carry specialised extrication equipment. In 1994, a study of 737 road traffic collisions in the UK involving 90 entrapments showed that the average time taken to release a trapped patient was 44 minutes. This is sub-optimal and delays definitive medical treatment.