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Firefighters More Stable With Res-Q-Jack |
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 By Stephen Byrd / For the Times
MUSCATINE, Iowa — In the past, if Muscatine firefighters were called out to rescue people from an overturned car, truck or van, they would first shore up the vehicle with large wooden wedges, blocks and chains.
Then three or four husky firefighters would brace themselves against the vehicle, keeping it from rolling over again while a paramedic climbed inside to treat victims.
Imagine trying to do that in a muddy roadside ditch, on a steep incline or on an icy road. At night.
“It makes it a very dangerous situation for the firefighter and the patient trapped inside as well as for his buddies trying to stabilize the vehicle outside,” Muscatine firefighter Ted Hillard said.
But thanks to a grant from Cargill AgHorizons, 700 Orange St., the Muscatine Fire Department recently purchased equipment that will help stabilize an overturned vehicle and keep firefighters and accident victims safe.
Hillard worked with Muscatine fire officials and Cargill operation leader Gene Walerius and manager Fred Oelschlaeger to obtain a $2,400 grant from the company that was used to purchase a Res-Q-Jack.
The equipment, manufactured by Elmira, N.Y.-based Res-Q-Jack Inc., is a multipurpose vehicle-stabilization system consisting of four metal posts as well as several bright yellow canvas straps and chains of varying lengths.
The posts, straps and chains are adjustable, allowing firefighters at an accident scene to set up the system at any angle on any kind of surface.
With the stabilization system locked in place, the posts can hold the weight of an overturned vehicle, allowing rescue personnel to either cut open the vehicle or climb inside and treat a victim without worrying whether their presence in the vehicle would pose a danger.
The posts can even be hand-cranked upward several inches in order to free a trapped patient’s arm or leg from underneath a vehicle.
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