From left, Grosse Pointe Farms public safety officer Michael Ryan and Lt. Wes Kipke hold two of their newly purchased hydraulic tools, which can be used to rescue accident victims trapped in a wrecked vehicle. Ryan and Kipke were among those who underwent training to use the equipment on vehicles March 30 and 31.
By: K. Michelle Moran | Grosse Pointe Times | Published April 4, 2023
GROSSE POINTE FARMS — In an emergency, every minute can make the difference between life and death.
That’s why the Grosse Pointe Farms Public Safety Department is so excited to have obtained a set of hydraulic tools — including the Jaws of Life — that will enable it to remove people trapped by industrial machinery or crushed vehicles.
Officer Michael Ryan obtained a $48,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Assistance to Firefighters program to enable the department to purchase extrication and stabilization tools that will be kept on the new fire engine and a supervisor’s vehicle. Although a couple of neighboring Grosse Pointes already have these kinds of hydraulic tools, having its own means the Farms can respond more quickly to a catastrophe in the city.
As Ryan explained, in a bad accident, first responders generally have about an hour — referred to as the “Golden Hour” — between the time of the incident and the time the patient reaches the hospital emergency room to save the patient’s life.
“Part of us having these extrication tools is it allows us to rapidly achieve that ‘Golden Hour’ (goal),” Ryan explained.
The city had to shell out less than $3,000 to cover the remainder of the cost for the tools, he said.
Officers received training on these tools March 30 and 31 in the parking lot at Mack Avenue and Moross Road. Hurst, the manufacturer of the tools, sent out one of its specialists to conduct the training.
“For most of us, it was the first time we had these tools in our hands,” Lt. Wes Kipke said.
Besides training on “junked” vehicles, officers also had the chance to train on a couple of newer Ford vehicles — a Mustang and an F-150 pickup truck. Ryan said Ford Motor Co. allows fire departments to purchase these new, unsold vehicles at a very low cost — $300 apiece.
“It’s a great program,” Farms Deputy Public Safety Director Andrew Rogers said of the Ford initiative.
These vehicles differ from older models in that they usually have high-strength steel and aluminum, Ryan said.
“It allows us to train on newer vehicles, newer metals,” Ryan said.
The new cutting tools purchased by the Farms are able to slice through these metals, but older hydraulic tools can’t.
“It’s going to let us provide better service to the community for any major vehicle accidents,” Kipke said.
While the Farms might not have any factories, that doesn’t mean commercial machinery isn’t in use in the community. Heavy presses and woodchippers are just a couple of the devices that can easily cause injury or death. Another one that Farms officers have seen is something that might be in use in a restaurant: industrial pasta makers.
“Those are notorious for chewing up arms,” Kipke said.
The Jaws of Life and hydraulic cutter are used to spread and slice through metal, while the hydraulic ram can spread metal even farther and raise a roof or dashboard, Ryan said. The struts the city acquired as part of this purchase can be used to stabilize a vehicle if it’s on its side, he said. Vehicles can become increasingly unstable as first responders cut them apart to free trapped occupants, putting everyone involved at greater risk of injury.
Because the Farms’ tools are new, they’re all battery powered. Ryan said the ones other departments have usually need to be powered via a generator.
Another advantage of the Farms’ tools is that they can be used underwater, he said. Considering the fact that vehicles have sailed from Lake Shore Road into Lake St. Clair in the Farms on more than one occasion, this is a big plus for the department.
Ryan, who has been with the Farms for the last five years, said they wouldn’t have been able to purchase these tools if not for the FEMA grant.
“That’s largely due to budget constraints,” Ryan said.
Heavy rain March 31 may have made the training more challenging, but Ryan said it was beneficial in that it better replicated a real-world scenario.
“These kinds of accidents tend to happen in poor weather conditions,” Ryan said.
He said the city got the equipment late last year but couldn’t start using it until personnel had been trained on it.