The Merced County Fire Department was awarded a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) for the purchase of three full sets of extrication equipment to assist crash victims and help with emergency response.
The grant will fund electric cutters, spreaders and rams that will aid in extricating victims from a severely damaged vehicle, reducing the time it takes to transport victims to receive critical care. In 2016, the Merced County Fire Department responded to 3,093 crashes to aid victims injured in which 100 of those required extrication.
“The Merced County Fire Department relies on this type of safety equipment to help save the lives of critically injured crash victims trapped in a vehicle,” said Chief Nancy Koerperich. “The difference between life and death can be a matter of minutes, which is why it is vitally important to be able to reach victims and provide treatment as quickly as possible.”
Delays in extrication can negatively impact the patient’s critical “golden hour” of trauma survivability. The “golden hour” for Emergency Medical Services is the core principle of rapid intervention in trauma cases:
- Get to the patient quickly,
- Treat what can be treated on scene, and
- Quickly get the patient to the right hospital. Anything that can be done to compress each of these time periods aids in patient survival and recovery.
The grant will assist in efforts to reduce the number of persons killed in traffic collisions. Traffic deaths from all causes increased nearly six percent from 2015 to 2016 in California. Safer roads and cars, stepped up enforcement and awareness, along with faster and more effective extrication equipment for emergency responders will help in sending that trend downward.
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
