What's News?

By Second Assistant Chief Roblee

Saturday July 19, 2025

How does Randy manage to get into these situations!?

This week's training focused on crush injuries and heavy rescue.  Our manikin, Rescue Randy, was loading a very full roll off dumpster when the cable broke and the dumpster landed on his legs.  Luckily, rescuers from the Chaffee-Sardinia Fire Company were ready and able to get the dumpster off of his legs in less than 25 minutes!

Captain Moltrup arrived first and provided a "scene size-up."  The size-up is extremely important for the first arriving officer, so they can make informed decisions about the next steps in the rescue.  Captain Moltrup found a full roll off dumpster on one victim, appearing to crush everything below the waist.  He immediately assigned a rescue officer and EMS personnel to assess the situation further.

EMTs arrived and found a patient conscious and alert with stable vitals.  While assessing the patient, the EMTs found bleeding coming from the legs.  But with the dumpster on top of the patient, they were unable to confirm the severity and source of the bleeding.  Standard precautions were taken for the trauma, including stabilization of the C-spine using a C-Collar.  Mercy Flight was requested to the scene due to the nature of the injuries.  EMTs continued to provide care throughout the rescue.

The rescue officer called for crews to immediately capture the load with cribbing, including 4x4 lumber and wooden wedges.  This action stabilizes the load and keeps the dumpster from crushing Randy any further.  The rescue crews then used a combination of hydraulic jacks, farm jacks and lifting airbags to lift the dumpster off the victim.  As the dumpster was lifted, additional wood cribbing was stacked below the rails for redundancy.  

Every movement was carefully coordinated and communicated to everyone working at the scene.  While any scene has hazards, working with unsecured dynamic loads requires extra attention to detail.  If lifting is not done in a smooth and methodical manner, loads can shift and hurt the victim or responders.

When the dumpster was finally lifted off the victim, responders were finally able to get a better look at the damage done to his legs.  Unfortunately, Randy had suffered major trauma to both of his legs, including amputation of his right leg below the knee.  EMTs immediately applied a tourniquet to the leg to control the bleeding.  EMTs noticed vital signs beginning to worsen; a sign of shock setting in.  They quickly signaled for support personnel to bring in a backboard to move the patient.

Once the dumpster was resting securely on cribbing blocks, Randy was moved out from under the dumpster and onto a backboard and moved to the Mercy Flight helicopter for transport to ECMC.  The patient was transported to the helicopter approximately 21 minutes after the drill started.  Amazing efforts by the rescue crews to tackle this challenge quickly!

"We are proud to have a huge cache of heavy rescue equipment.  A lot of this equipment is uncommon in this area, but critical for rescue emergencies in Sardinia and surrounding towns.  We show our pride by training to stay proficient with these tools," says Assistant Chief Siminski, who organized the drill.

The fire company is always looking for people to join our team of professional volunteers!  Not sure if you would be a good fit?  Fill out our interest survey linked below to set up a station tour and find your place on our team!