This hasn’t been a good week for some drivers traveling on Calhoun Street.
A 40-year-old man, for example, was driving near Brewington’s Towing & Recovery Monday morning when he lost control. He veered off of the main road, went through the grass and slammed — sideways — into a big tree near the towing company’s main office. In shock, with a badly fractured ankle, he called for help.
Plant City Fire Rescue was on the scene, easing the man’s pain with morphine and working in the hot sun to slice the car open. It was the only way to get the man out, for the driver’s side door was pinned to the ground and the roof was pinned to the tree.
Once the man was safely removed from the vehicle, and placed on a stretcher, he was ready to go to the hospital. But, then:
“That’s all we need,” EMS Chief Jim Wilson yells. “Great job!”
Relieved, the firemen remove their coats and helmets and walk away from the man. It’s a training exercise for them, part of a series of drills that have been taking place in the Brewington’s parking lot since Wednesday morning.
“It gets the guys working as a team,” Wilson says. “Practice makes perfect.”
Really, the crash victim is a mannequin, clad in torn sweatpants and a dirty Brewington’s T-shirt. It doesn’t go to the ambulance nearby, but one of its arms is lying on the ground, about 8 feet away, with intravenous lines hooked up to it. The full mannequin has clearly been through a lot over the last few days, because its “fractured” ankle didn’t look nearly as painful as its bent femur.
But, according to the PCFR leaders taking notes during the exercise, these people would have been rescued and brought to the hospital in a swift, proper manner. The exercise served to examine and sharpen the firemen’s skills with extrication and on-scene medical procedures.
“We come out here and get the guys used to training, so it becomes second nature to them,” Battalion Chief James Wingo says. “It centers on terrible accidents with someone who’s trapped. We’re also training paramedics on medical knowledge.”
Cutters, spreaders, collars, IV drips — PCFR brought a variety of tools for the firefighters to test their skills during the training. Plenty of old, otherwise useless cars were smashed up against the tree, with the mannequins inside, and the vehicles were opened with the same speed and sense of urgency as a real procedure. Paramedics even held “conversations” with the mannequins (sometimes voiced by Wilson, standing several feet away), and the men with the clipboards operated the radio system on an unused channel to add an extra layer of immersion.
Wilson said the department’s good relationship with the towing company helped it secure a site large enough to fit fire trucks, police cars, ambulances and more, all in one space.
“We couldn’t do it without Mr. Brewington’s service,” Wilson says.