Columbia County Fire

Assistant Chief Jim Cason is on the move again. He will be attending a competition at the Wayne Township, Emergency Services Education and Conference Center in Indianapolis. Thirty two teams representing Fire and Rescue organizations from across the world will compete against one another, displaying their skills in extricating persons trapped in serious motor vehicle accidents.

Columbia County Fire Department is especially proud as our very own Assistant Chief will be one of the judges at this event. This is a prestigous honor and we wish him well as he represents our community on a different level.

The teams competing are judged on basic and advanced theory using practical skills to successfully manage an auto extrication of a victim (or multiple victims) from a vehicle. It is not only an honor to have our assistant chief involved in this but it can also be a learning experience for our department. He will have an opportunity to observe other units from around the country and maybe even from different parts of the world to see what methods and procedures they use and evaluate these for their potential use in our department.

The competition consists of three "pits"; Limited, Unlimited and Rapid. Dummies will be utilized in the Unlimited and Rapid pits and live victims will be in the Limited pits. Each team will be required to perform the extrication with the tools provided in the pit. This makes for an even playing field for each team and makes the judging more "apples to apples" however teams are allowed to use two of the teams own innovative tools.

The innovative tools must be approved by the head judge at the captain's meeting prior to the competition start. To keep it fair, the innovative tools must remain in the pit for the other teams to use as well.

We wish him well with this educational opportunity and hope that he gains valuable information while enjoying the change of scenery and the challenge of judging this competition.