TRAINING DAYS Heavy-Duty Rotator Extrication Class for First Responders

By Steve Temple Photos by Gracie Ruffing

While nobody can be totally prepared for the unexpected at a catastrophic accident scene, first responders and towmen can certainly train for it. That was the mission of a five-day extrication training that took place in Burleson, Texas in early June. This event was sponsored by James Bennett, Jr. of Beard’s Towing of Fort Worth, Texas. This name should sound familiar to our readers, since we recognized him as Towman of the Year in 2022 for his heroic service as Incident Commander at The Great Texas Pileup in February 2021.

James managed multiple recoveries from the series of horrific collisions. It involved 135 vehicles, resulting in six deaths and dozens of serious injuries. He worked alongside 150 police officers and firefighters and coordinated eight different tow companies using about 90 wreckers, while keeping a cool head during this chaotic scene. So he has the grit, determination and hands-on experience to conduct this training, and first responders will certainly benefit from his hard-won knowledge of extrication procedures.

Mission Statement

Commenting on the value of the program, James explained that, “This training is in partnership with our tow trucks and our firefighters so they know our capabilities when it comes to working alongside of us on the highways. This knowledge is instrumental in being safe out on the roadways, especially during a dangerous accident.”

Nine different local fire departments attended the classes, which featured a staged accident scene with a cement truck overturned on various crushed vehicles, and others wedged underneath a trailer, and pinned between two large commercial trucks. Both setups presented real-world scenarios for first responders to safely handle extrications.

To demonstrate the advantages of having a rotator on hand instead of a conventional crane, Beard’s towmen used a Century 1075 fitted on a Kenworth T880 twin-steer truck. Expenses involved for the training amounted to about $65,000, all donated by Beard’s Towing, with additional instruction provided by WreckMaster.

In addition to handling accident scenes, the program also included a day of instruction from ESA (Energy Security Agency) on how to safely ◀ handle electric vehicles (EVs) after a collision. This type of training is now essential when it comes to both firstresponder safety and public safety, since EVs are very likely to catch fire if the batteries are compromised.

All told, how did the participating firefighters feel about this training program?

FIRST RESPONDERS’ RESPONSES

“Today we had a wonderful vehicle extrication training session with the C-shift crew of Johnson County ESD Station 83,” noted one posting on Beard’s Facebook page. “Our newest members learned about vehicle stabilization, rescue tool setup and operation, and how to mitigate vehicle occupant access using different strategies and tactics.”

A posting from the Crowley Fire Department added: “This past week, all of our crews were invited by Beard's Towing to participate in an extrication class that was aimed at enhancing their skills in rescuing individuals trapped in vehicles. The intensive training session included hands-on exercises that simulated real-life scenarios, such as vehicle accidents and entrapments. Our crews practiced advanced techniques for safely removing victims from wreckages using specialized tools and equipment. This training provided our members with valuable knowledge and practical experience in responding effectively and efficiently to emergencies involving vehicle extrications. Thank you so much to Beard’s Towing for having us out for this training and for maintaining such a fantastic relationship with our city. We appreciate all that you do!”

The training had immediate application for the Grand Prairie Fire Department (GPFD): “Yesterday, GPFD’s Squad 5 was requested to assist two of our regional partners. The first incident involved a complex heavy-vehicle extrication in Arlington. The second incident involved a hazardous materials event in Lancaster, where 15 people were transported to local hospitals for evaluation and treatment. GPFD would like to thank Beard's Towing for providing valuable heavy-vehicle training just last week, which was crucial to the vehicle incident.”

So as noted at the outset, first

100,000th Milestone for Isuzu and Builtmore

Isuzu Commercial Truck of America, Inc., announced that the 100,000th gasoline-powered Isuzu N-Series truck was produced in June in Charlotte, Michigan. Isuzu N-Series gas trucks are powered by a 6.6-liter General Motors V8 engine that produces 350 horsepower at 4,500 rpm and generates 425 lb.-ft. of torque at 3,800 rpm. “We want to acknowledge and thank the team at Isuzu for the success we’ve been able to achieve togeth- er over the past 12 years,” said Daryl Adams, President, and Chief Executive Officer of The Shyft Group. “We are proud to serve Isuzu as a cost-effective and flexible manufacturing partner for their N-Series and F-Series programs helping support their continued growth in the medium-duty truck market.”

Sources: isuzucv.com

TheShyftGroup.com

Cummins Produces 2.5 Millionth Engine

Cummins Inc. announced the production of its 2.5 millionth engine in April in Lakewood, New York, The blinged-out X15, was displayed with black and chrome detail against iconic red paint. This milestone engine will be installed in a Kenworth Legacy W900 truck for use by First Class Services in Kentucky. Kenworth is celebrating its 100th anniversary and has been operating since 1923.

In addition to celebrating this milestone, Cummins also announced that it is investing $452 million to produce the first of the three engines from the next generation, fuel-agnostic internal combustion engine family —the X15N—that leverages a range of lower carbon fuel types, including natural gas. The company says this 500hp engine is the first natural gas engine to be specifically designed for heavy-duty truck applications.

This milestone “…is remarkable, because 50% of the heavy-duty and the medium-duty trucks that go on our highways are powered by a Cummins engine,” notes Srikanth Padmanabhan, vice president of Cummins and president of engine business. “These 2.5 million engines, along with the 5 million engines that we’ve produced at Rocky Mountain Engine Plant, are what drives today’s trucking, and it drives the economy of the United States.”

GM Boosts Truck Manufacturing

General Motors plans to invest $1.7 billion in two manufacturing sites in Flint, Michigan for producing a new generation of its heavy-duty (HD) trucks. GM’s trucks compete with the recently redesigned Ford Super Duty and other heavy-duty versions of Stellantis NV’s Ram pickup, among the most profitable vehicles sold by the Detroit Three automakers. Last year, GM sold nearly 288,000 trucks with HD pickup sales, which rose 38% from a year earlier.

Hydrogen vs Electric Ford Vehicles

Hydrogen fuel cells are being considered as potential zero-emissions alternatives to all-electric vehicles, particularly in the realm of large, heavy trucks and commercial vans, where EV battery technology isn’t quite feasible yet. Automakers like Ford see hydrogen as a possible solution to this problem in the short term, but it seems as if hydrogen Ford vehicles will remain niche products for now.

As observed by Bill Ford Jr., “Hydrogen is funny because it’s always been the fuel of tomorrow and has been for the last 25 years. Some of you may recall that we invested in a company called Ballard up in Vancouver many years ago because we were quite bullish on the fuel cell future.”

However, he pointed out, that a fuel cell is basically an onboard chemical factory, hard to manufacture at scale, and in the early days didn’t perform terribly well in extreme temperatures.

Bill Ford adds that obtaining true green hydrogen was almost impossible.

“You could do it in a lab,” he explained, “but often it took more energy to extract the hydrogen than you were actually creating.”

In addition to other issues involving transportation and fueling, that’s why Ford Motor Company was prompted to head down the EV road.

“We thought it was a better scalable way to reduce our carbon footprint,” he admitted. “But we are still working on hy drogen.”

Ford Motor Co. is teaming up with a number of energy companies to test a Super Duty F-550 hydrogen vehicle, and CEO Jim Farley recently stated that we may see a hydrogen version of that mod el hit the market before an electric one.