POTD: ‘Imagine you’re a scared 16-year-old’

Metro Wire Staff

Plover Deputy Fire Chief Ken Voss (right) coaches EMTs Linda Leindecker and Paul Kenealy during a training exercise at Adam’s Towing on Wednesday night.

Leindecker and Kenealy were tasked with sitting inside the car to experience what vehicle extrication is like from the victim’s perspective. It was Kenealy’s second day on the job.

“Imagine you’re a scared 16-year-old kid, you just totaled your dad’s $80,000 car, and now firefighters are coming at the car with equipment that looks like it could kill you,” Voss told the two EMTs. “That’s what we want to keep in mind at a scene like this.”

Plover firefighters were holding a joint training event with members of its EMS service via a series of scenarios, to help reinforce constant communication between the two disciplines when responding to a scene, and to provide some measure of cross-training to the all-volunteer fire department.

The crew trained in multiple areas on July 10, to include simple tasks like safely breaking car windows, to the complications that can arise while rescuing injured persons from turned-over vehicles.