Pinellas County's Palm Harbor Fire Rescue is located in the Tampa Bay area of Florida's west coast. U.S. Highway 19 — one of the area's busiest arteries — and several other roads that require high levels of extrication skills run through its jurisdiction.

The department's six-person extrication team is one of the best in the United States, based on its performance in competitions. The team came in second overall in the 2005 National Extrication Challenge and Learning Symposium in Las Vegas and first overall in the 2006 Florida Regional Extrication Challenge and Learning Symposium. Its members will be competing against teams from around the world in the 2006 International Extrication Challenge in Burlington, Ontario, and have qualified to compete again in the 2007 national competition.

In addition to extrications in its own jurisdiction, Palm Harbor Fire Rescue is also part of the automatic aid system in Pinellas County. Depending on where it is needed, the closest appropriate unit within the county responds. All fire rescue departments in the county participate in this program. This is different from mutual aid where a department will respond only on request from another department. Ambulance transport is provided by the county through a private contractor.

What equipment does this department, operating in Florida's most densely populated county, use on the job? How does its busy team train for day-to-day extrication operations as well as for competition?

Training procedures

When training, the Palm Harbor extrication team tries to develop new procedures and modify others to be more efficient. Team members are perpetual students, studying the cause and effect of what they are doing.

The auto industry is dynamic. Vehicle configurations change rapidly, so the team must remain up to date by reading automobile company brochures. Knowing where parts are located is especially helpful when new vehicle models are introduced. For example, before they cut into the new gas-electric hybrid vehicles, rescuers must be aware of the electrical cable's location in addition to hidden fuel lines.

In another example of what to watch out for, recent models of high-end cars have as many as 12 airbags placed throughout the inside of the vehicle, and some convertibles from BMW, Volvo and Mercedes have a hidden roll bar that activates in a rollover. In their normal state, these occupant safety features blend in with the car's color scheme and could look like part of the seat or trim, so early detection is critical. It's important to not only know about new innovations but to be aware of where they are and how they're triggered to prevent injury to the patient or rescuer.

Automakers have vehicle specifications on their Web sites and often will conduct classes regarding their cars and trucks that are specifically geared to first responders. The information travels a two-way street because the manufacturers also want to know what happens to their vehicles when they're put under stress.

Palm Harbor Fire Rescue practices on as many vehicles as it can. The team goes to junkyards to train and also has worked out an agreement with an auto recovery company. This company will bring wrecked automobiles to the fire station, or the team will go to the wrecking company's site where a scene will be set up for practice, complete with a 165-pound dummy. Of course, team members are aware that many of their practice vehicles are older — and therefore involve different technology — than the vehicles they may encounter on the street.