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‘Cutting Cars, Saving People’: Atlanta Firefighters Train for National Extrication Competition – WSB-TV Channel 2

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ATLANTA — For the first time, a team of Atlanta firefighters is entering a national competition to determine how quickly they can extract people from a car after a crash.

Firefighters are currently training to be able to save lives after car crashes and accidents, using the competition to learn more ways to keep people safe.

According to Atlanta Fire Capt. Tyler Mallory, training exercises like these give fire crews more time to better cut out cars and save real people.

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“We’re practicing,” Mallory said. “We need to get to the patient quickly and get them out of the car quickly so we can get them to the hospital.”

Atlanta firefighters participating in the extrication competition will test new techniques and equipment to prepare for the competition later this month.

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The competing team will also share what they learned during training with all local fire stations.

“The overall goal is to make everyone an extrication team,” said Stephen Martell of the North American Vehicle Rescue Association.

Martell traveled to Atlanta from Florida to help train Atlanta fire crews, but he said win or lose, preparation makes the entire community safer.

“Last year, 47,000 people died in road accidents. If we get this right and do a better job, an earlier job, we can save more lives,” Martell said. Channel 2’s Lori Wilson.

This year is the first time Atlanta Fire Rescue has participated in the NAVRA competition. Atlanta firefighters will compete May 30 in the National Rescue Challenge, which NAVRA said Atlanta Fire is also hosting this year.

The competition will run until June 2.

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