Farm-Medic course held in Collins

     “Unfamiliarity breeds challenges, especially for rescuers faced with an incident they haven’t seen (thank goodness) often enough.”

     Fire service leaders need to ensure that their personnel, vehicles, equipment and tools are prepared for farm rescues, which can be subject to more obstacles than a typical rescue call.

     Overturned tractors and farm machinery accidents account for 55 percent of the agricultural fatalities in the United States. Firefighters and EMS personnel attended the Farm-Medic Course given by the Collins Fire Company over a two-day period on June 9 and 12.

     Ted Halpin, extension support specialist and co-founder of the Cornell University Farm-Medic Training course, traveled from Cornell University to Collins to familiarize local firefighters and EMS personnel on farm hazards, and the safety and rescue measures needed to handle just such an emergency situation.

     Training consisted of classroom learning and then traveling out to one of the local working farms in the community. After a thorough tour of the farm and its equipment, firefighters and EMS personnel were put through evolutions that included extrication from an overturned tractor, PTO entanglements, an auger and corn picker entanglement, to lessons on silo fires. Stabilizing the pieces of equipment using “cribbing” was a major lesson in the two-day course. It is critical in preventing further injury to the patient as well as any injury to the rescuer.

     As there are numerous “working farms” in the surrounding communities, this course was ideal for preparing for these rescues and drilling safely on farm machinery extrication.

     Collins Fire Company would like to thank the Town of Collins and Gowanda High School for all their help in putting together the needed classroom equipment. Also, to Gowanda Ambulance Service for giving their time the entire Saturday for stand-by at the farm.

     A special “Thank You” goes out to local community resident Bill Schultz and his family for allowing rescuers to literally “take over” his farm for the two-day course, for their time and support, machinery to work on and never-ending questions that they answered.

     Without all of these special community members, this course could not have happened.