Junkyard Jaws of Life training for Bristol fire department
by Sophie Kuijper Dickson
Alleyn and Cawood
Apr. 14, 2024
The Johnson Auto Wreckers junkyard in Danford Lake offered itself as an ideal playground for a team of Bristol firefighters on Sunday.
At the back of the junkyard, amidst rows of rusted and mangled cars, eight of the department’s firefighters spent the day getting acquainted with its recently acquired Jaws of Life tools – one spreader tool and one cutter tool.
“This is just one of our next steps in trying to improve our department,” said Alex Mahon, officer in training with the department, noting the two tools were the latest big purchase the department made since buying an emergency rescue boat in 2022.
“It’s good that we’’ll be able to be more independent and depend less on Shawville,” said Fire Chief Kevin Kluke.
He explained that for years, both Shawville-Clarendon and Bristol fire departments have had to be called to any accident that happens on Highway 148 in the Municipality of Bristol, just in case the Jaws of Life are needed.
“Once the course is done and they’ll all be certified, Bristol will man their own section of the 148,” Kluke said.
The two tools purchased cost a total of about $37,000, half of which the department has already paid using money from previous fundraising efforts.
After a day of in-class lessons on Saturday, the firefighters ran through different scenarios they might encounter when responding to a car accident, guided by instructor Stéphane Dubreuil.
On a small silver Mazda hatchback, they learned how to perform a dash lift, a procedure that takes apart the front of the car so that it can be lifted to free a victim’s legs from under its dash.
In this exercise, the team got to a point where the spreader and the cutter were no longer fit to tackle the job as the car’s frame was too rusted.
They then moved on to tackle a bright turquoise Mini Cooper as though there were two passengers stuck in the car, one in the front seat and one in the back, and the doors were jammed.
“Right now the cars are getting stronger. The way the car is designed, when they crush, they’re not supposed to crush the cab of the vehicle, but it will crush the engine compartment and push it into the doors such that you can’t open the doors,” Mahon explained.
“So for the most part, it’s just a door removal. But if [the victim] is injured you’re removing both doors or the complete roof. There’s never two accidents the same.”
Mahon said his department is lucky – that it only responds to 15 to 20 car accident calls a year, and that they rarely need to use the Jaws of Life.
While it’s been at least five years since he’s personally responded to an accident where the Jaws of Life tools were needed, “it’s one of those tools that you’d rather have than need it.”
“Not every call will have eight of us on it,” Mahon said. “So the more of us that are trained, the more chance there’s going to be a firefighter trained on the Jaws that’s going to make it to the scene.”
Mahon and Daniel Johnson, who works as a firefighter for both Bristol and Pontiac departments, spent the weekend prior building the wooden blocks used to stabilize the cars.
Johnson’s uncle owns the Danford Lake junkyard and donated the three cars that were dismembered on Sunday as well as the five or six that will be used for lessons this weekend.
“We’re trying to save as much money as possible,” Mahon explained.
Kluke, chief of both Bristol and Campbell’s Bay fire departments, and Bristol firefighter Chris Brazeau both already have their Jaws training, which means 10 of 21 members of the department will be equipped to use the tools when needed.
