Crime & Safety
Nanuet Collision Hosts Vehicle Extrication Program (VIDEO)
Members of various fire departments took place in the program, taking apart two cars
Doors were ripped, windshields were cut and airbags deployed Saturday afternoon on Route 59, and all for the sake of education.
Nanuet Collision Centers, located on 59 in Monsey, hosted its first ever First Responders Emergency Extrication Program. Participating in the program were firefighters from departments in Monsey, Tallman, Hillcrest, Suffern, Hillburn, Sloatsburg and Spring Valley.
Kevin Muir, president of Nanuet Collision Centers, said he started thinking about hosting the program over the summer.
“We felt that there was a need for this to be done in this area, to expose the volunteer firefighters to the latest cutting equipment that’s out there for extrication for today’s vehicles,” he said.
During the program, Chris Pawlowski, a rescue tool specialist for Garrison Fire & Rescue Corp., led a demonstration of various Holmatro tools used to cut through cars. After Pawlowski spoke to the group, he led them as they cut through two cars donated for the program by State Farm.
Pawlowski, who is also a lieutenant with the Newburgh Fire Department, and the group stabilized the cars, broke all of the glass besides the windshields and then started to cut into the cars and just generally mangle them. They removed the roofs of both cars, and eventually got rid of the front and back windshields on each, as well.
This was about the fifth such demonstration Pawlowski has led this month, he said. He added that since Holmatro tools look so light, often times people will underestimate their power.
“There’s not too many things we can’t do with them,” he said.
Muir said there’s no definite plans to hold more of these kinds of programs, but he’d be open to it.
“If there’s an interest, there’s a possibility we could do this again for other departments in the county,” he said.