Posted Online: March 07, 2010, 7:26 pm

Race car rescues: Motorsports Fire Rescue Conference teaches life-saving skills

DAVENPORT -- They sawed through the metal frame of a race car, practiced pulling a driver out and onto a back board and worked furiously to knock down the flames of a fiery two-car crash.

The persistent flames were real, but the crash was a simulation organized during the two-day Speedway Fire-Rescue annual Motorsports Fire Rescue Conference. Roughly 35 men and women volunteers gathered at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds Saturday and Sunday to hone and refresh their skills aimed at saving lives on the race track.

In addition to the annual training, Speedway Fire-Rescue crews provide fire, rescue and medical services at area speedways and drag strips and at the Quad City Air Show. The group -- some of whom are firefighters -- works as first responders at area race tracks to care for drivers and assists the ambulance crew.

Training coordinator Karri Coyne of the Quad-Cities-based organization said volunteers traveled from Illinois and Iowa to attend the indoor and outdoor orientation, which focused on race car types, designs and safety; helicopter and ambulance safety and lessons on specialized extrication tools and fire extinguishers.

Teams also trained at stations to learn how to respond to rollover accidents and car fires, practiced extrication and simulated a mass casualty scenario in the back pit area just outside the fairgrounds half-mile race track.

Ms. Coyne said it is important for new participants and long-time members to attend training annually to ensure they are up to speed with new technology and the changes in race cars. She said attendees viewed different types of race cars to see different car set-ups. She said steering wheels may remove differently from model to model and drivers may be secured in the car with four-point or five-point harnesses.

"They need to know how to get the driver out safely," she said. "It's training every year, even if it's a refresher course and even for the ones who think they don't need it. They need to stay up on their skills."

Some of the crew Sunday practiced using saws and equipment similar to the Jaws of Life to cut away parts of a car frame, while another team coordinated lifting a female member up and out of a race car by placing a strap underneath her arms so she could be removed from the car and placed on a back board.

Ms. Coyne said Speedway members are needed at every race and almost always have an opportunity to put their training to use.

"We use these skills pretty much every race. If we're bored, then that is a good race," she said. "The skills are needed almost every night. It might not be anything major, maybe a small fire. We respond any time a car doesn't move."

Scott Bohannan, Speedway assistant chief and president, said the annual conference is particularly important as members head into another racing season, which begins locally in April at the fairgrounds.

"We refresh experienced members on new techniques and it's refreshing them from a long winter off," he said.