| Over the weekend of Saturday May 1st and Sunday May 2nd, six members of the Thorndale Fire Company completed Trench Rescue Operations training taught by Instructors Marty Hannon and Erik Smith of the Bucks County Community College. This special training class was offered through the Fame Fire Company of West Chester and the Chester County Technical Rescue Task Force as part of the "Technical Rescue Weekend". Fire Departments from across Chester County united to participate in technical rescue training together to further build the Chester County Technical Rescue Task Force. In addition to the Trench Rescue Operations training, other course were available including; Water Rescue and Emergency Response as well as Special Vehicle Rescue.
The weekend began early on Saturday as the six members of Thorndale met at the station for breakfast before heading to class. Saturday was a classroom session taught at the Fame Fire Company, that discussed several aspects of trench rescue including; anatomy of a trench, safety considerations, methods of failure, and shoring operations. The six members of Thorndale were joined by three from Fame and one from the Alert Fire Company of Downingtown. At lunch, the trench rescue class traveled down the street to the West Chester Fire Training School to meet up with the other two classes for a wonderful lunch provided by the Firestore.
Following lunch, the group returned to the Fame to finish up by reviewing the equipment carried on Trench 53 (Fame), which is a trailer that contains equipment needed for trench rescue.
On Sunday, the crew of Thorndale met early again for breakfast, then traveled to the Fame Fire Company to assist in preparations for the day. The two members from Fame needed assistance loading up additional wood into Squad 53 (Fame) that would be needed for the day. From here, the Fame and Thorndale members traveled to the fire school where the West Chester Public Works Department had dug a trench to be used for the day.
Instructor Erik Smith went over the plan for the day and the crews went to work securing the trench. A three panel systems was constructed in the trench by members of Fame, Thorndale, and Alert that would provide the safety needed to rescue a trapped person in a real emergency.
Trench rescue is a very difficult and time consuming operation because it involves soil, which is a dynamic material that changes and is very difficult to predict. Extreme caution is taken to protect crews that enter the trench to prevent any shifting of the soils that may cause a secondary collapse.
At the conclusion of the course, the crew from Thorndale assisted the Fame in getting Trench 53 back into working order by restocking wood and preparing the equipment.
Thank you to Kevin Corcoran of the Chester County Technical Rescue Task Force for organizing the weekend.
Thorndale Trench Operations Participants:
Assistant Chief Vince D'Amico
Captain Dan Donnachie
Firefighter John Cordisco
Firefighter/EMT Regina Solecki
Firefighter/EMT Kevin Kistler
Firefighter George Monaghan |
