MINDEMOYA—Hopefully they will never have to use the auto extrication skills they have acquired, but members of two Manitoulin Island fire departments received training in this program recently.
“We haven’t been part of any type of auto extrication course training for a while now, and we have some new members on the fire department so this was valuable for them to learn and even for those that have this training previously,” stated Duncan Sinclair, deputy fire chief of the Gore Bay Volunteer Fire Department. “We haven’t been able to use the jaws of life equipment that was donated to our fire department a year or two ago.”
The training was provided by Defosse Extrication and Consulting, run by Jason Defosse, who started his firefighting career in 1995 and is a member of the Quinte West Fire Department (Trenton, Ontario). He specializes in advanced extraction and his unique style of instruction has put him in demand, delivering over 1,700 extrication courses/training sessions to the Canadian military, mine rescue and fire departments extensively throughout Canada, the US and South America through Code 4 Fire and Rescue.
The training was put on by Dustin Miedema, a rescue specialist for Defosse Extrication and Consulting. “Dustin was the trainer and he set us up, and man, what a wealth of knowledge and good tips he had for us,” said Mr. Sinclair.
Mr. Sinclair said that the Gore Bay Fire Department had 12 firefighters on hand including a couple of new members. As well, two members from the Robinson Township Fire Department took part.
“Central Manitoulin held one of these training sessions in the spring, along with Assiginack and Tehkummah,” said Gore Bay Fire Chief Mike Addison.
“The training lasted eight hours and we demoed six vehicles,” said Mr. Sinclair. “A big shout out to Dan at Meneray Towing (in Mindemoya) for offering up his location and providing us with vehicles to practice on.”
