VAN BUREN COUNTY, Mich. -- More than a dozen first responders gathered this weekend for a two-day training session to learn how to quickly and safely extricate people who have been in a bad crash involving a semi truck.
"We're bringing everyone together in a collaborative effort because we know that everyone has a little piece of the pie there," said Gary Brown, Van Buren Intermediate School District Chief Safety Officer. "When we put our pieces together it'll make for the best rescue for safety to get the highway open in time and for the patients who might be injured."
In total more than 15 departments from across West Michigan attended the training session and learned how to safely pull people from crushed vehicles.
"I hope that they're taking away that when we hear that there might be a semi truck and a car accident that all is not lost," Brown said. "We have the resources and training to come in and really make a difference in people's lives that might be injured, to make a difference that we can- not just write this off as a fatal accident- but that we can really come out here. We have the training the skills, we have the equipment to really make a difference to have a new outcome in any sort of auto accident."
