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Firefighter Scott Padgett, of Southern Pines Fire and Rescue, uses a hydraulic spreader to widen a cut around a crashed vehicle doorpost in order to remove the door during the Extrication College training May 13 at Central Carolina Community College’s Emergency Services Training Center. Instructor Billy Leach Jr. (right) instructs Padgett on widening the pie-shaped cut while firefighter Timothy Smith (left), driver/operator for SPFD and a volunteer with the Deep River Volunteer Fire Department, stands ready to assist.  Cutting around a doorpost to remove a door can save critical time in reaching accident victims in crashed vehicles. For more information about the ESTC and its programs, call Director of Emergency Services Landis Phillips, (919) 777-7779, or email at ljphillips@cccc.edu.

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Firefighters gathered from fire departments around North Carolina, as well as from New York, Virginia, Maryland, and New Jersey, to take part in the Extrication College training May 13 at Central Carolina Community College’s Emergency Services Training Center. Instructor Billy Leach Jr. taught the latest techniques for quickly getting into a crashed vehicle to reach the victims inside. Pictured (from left) firefighter Timothy Smith, driver/operator for Southern Pines Fire and Rescue and a volunteer with the Deep River Volunteer Fire Department; Capt. James Schultz, of the Morristown (N.J.) Fire Department; and firefighter Scott Padgett, of Southern Pines Fire and Rescue, remove a vehicle door that has been cut off to gain access to the vehicle’s interior. For more information on the ESTC and its programs, call Director of Emergency Services Landis Phillips, (919) 777-7779 or email at ljphillips@cccc.edu.