Jeff Hajny

    Throughout a career, a firefighter may encounter many different situations and will be faced with different ways to handle these situations.
     Area firemen were given lessons on different procedures at the Nebraska VEHEXT Program, held April 4-6 in Lincoln and Martel.
     "In this profession you never know what you're going to get into, so this was a good thing to attend," Seward Fire Chief Dean Fritz said.
     The three-day program featured all-day lecture sessions on April 4 and hands-on training on April 5 and 6.
     Those in attendance were put in different scenarios, including car pile-ups and people being trapped in cars. The firefighters were then expected to show what could be done in these situations.
     Five fire departments were represented at the event, including the Seward, Southwest, Crete, Hallam and Lincoln Fire Departments.
     The program had an overall positive response.
     "This is unbelievable," Southwest Assistant Chief Adam Power said. "Everything has come together with a lot of support. This went way beyond my expectations. Hopefully, next year we will have more students and more cars to tear into."
     "The group down here has done an excellent job," instructor Gilbert Monroe said. "A problem they faced was logistics, but the group here is right on key with everything."
     "We enjoy doing this to see how different area fire departments respond to different problems. There's no wrong way of doing things as long as the objective is met."
     The VEHEXT Program is a three-day course for firefighters covering every aspect of vehicle extrication, with a heavy emphasis being placed on size-up, safety, medical aspects of vehicle rescue, stabilization and common sense approaches to extrication of vehicles.
     Those in attendance were treated to a lecture from Director of Trauma Services at BryanLGH Medical Center Dr. Reginald Burton along with several experienced instructors who helped through the simulations.
     The VEHEXT Program was started in Charlottesville, Va., for the firefighters there. This marked the first year the program was implemented for Nebraska.