03/26/2026
*Advanced Vehicle Extrication Training & Tractor Trailer Rescue*
This past weekend, members of Rescue Company 40 participated in an Advanced Vehicle Extrication Training Course hosted by Bedford Hills Fire Department and instructed by Signal 73 Fire Training.
Over two full days of hands-on training, our members worked alongside numerous departments from across Westchester County, as well as Greenwich & Bridgeport Fire Departments in CT. Crews spent over eight hours each day training on advanced extrication techniques including tunneling, tenting, dash rolls, door and roof removals, vehicle stabilization, and victim disentanglement, before applying those skills to complex, realistic scenarios.
Members were challenged with a variety of demanding situations, including a pickup truck stacked on top of another vehicle with an ejected patient trapped in between, a car into a bus with a patient trapped, and confined-space extrications where access to the patient was limited to the rear only. Additional scenarios included vehicles positioned on top of buses, and vehicles down an embankment requiring stabilization, extrication, and low angle rope rescue skills, which required crews to adapt, communicate, and execute under pressure.
As a company that regularly operates on major roadways including Interstate 95, Interstate 287, the Hutchinson River Parkway, and provides mutual aid responses to Interstate 684, as well as those same roadways in surrounding districts, this level of training is critical to ensuring our members are prepared to handle the most complex and demanding rescue situations.
Training from this past weekend was quickly put to use. On Wednesday morning, Rescue 40 was dispatched to Willett Avenue and Rectory Street for a male trapped beneath a tractor trailer. Upon arrival, members found a victim pinned under a lowboy trailer. Utilizing skills reinforced during the weekend’s training, members stabilized the trailer, captured the suspension, and lifted the vehicle using airbags and bottle jacks to successfully extricate the patient.
We would like to thank Signal 73 Fire Training and the Bedford Hills Fire Department for providing a valuable and well-executed training. Training alongside departments we don’t regularly operate with strengthens coordination and prepares us for mutual aid responses on complex incidents. Thank you to members from Purchase Fire for assisting us in the stabilization, lifting, and extrication of the party trapped on Wednesday, as well as the Port Chester Police, and EMS.
