Edina Fire Department showcases modern vehicle rescue equipment
The Edina City Council heard a demonstration of how the city's firefighters have upgraded their vehicle extrication tools and techniques to respond faster to crash victims. Captain Josh Link presented the training at the South Metro Public Safety Training Facility, highlighting how new battery-powered equipment has dramatically reduced response time.
Captain Josh Link, who has served with the Edina Fire Department since 2010 and now supervises shifts as a captain, walked the council through three critical extrication scenarios: extracting trapped passengers through doors, removing vehicle roofs for access, and safely lifting vehicles to rescue pinned victims.
The most significant advancement is the shift from heavy, generator-powered hydraulic systems to lightweight, battery-powered tools. The old equipment, which weighed 60 to over 100 pounds and required long, stiff hoses, took about 10 minutes to set up. Modern cordless tools, similar in design to cordless drills, are faster, more powerful, and easier to control—reducing setup time to just 60 seconds. "They've gotten way better, they're way faster, they're easier to use and they're more powerful," Link said.
Link emphasized a critical but often overlooked safety concern: the danger firefighters face working on the sides of high-speed roadways like Interstate 494. "These almost never happen in a convenient location and they all frequently happen in areas of high-speed roadway," he explained. He stressed that the public can help protect emergency responders by moving over and slowing down when they see roadside incidents.
The captain also detailed the precision required in extrication work. When removing doors, firefighters use small, controlled motions to access the door latch rather than tearing metal. When lifting vehicles, they follow a fire service principle: "lift an inch, crib an inch," meaning they add wooden supports as they raise the vehicle to prevent it from falling if equipment fails.
Link concluded with a direct appeal to drivers: "If you see an incident on the side of the road, please move over as far away as possible as you pass. We don't want to block traffic and make you late, but we also want to make sure everybody goes home safe."
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Notable Quotes (6)
started back here in 2010 as a firefighter paramedic uh now promoted to a captain uh my job is basically supervisor of the shift uh we're in charge of on the engine anything other than a medical and we also come and help on the more serious medicals
we used to call them jaws of life and that was kind of the omnibus term for that uh but these aren't the same kind of tools as you use probably in 2010 right the the basic skeleton is the same as it always has been we used to have to have a small uh like generator size hydraulic pump these big long hoses that were super stiff and coily and hard to control and they weren't as long as we would like them to be and then we'd have these big machines that weighed anywhere from 60 to over 100 lb they've gotten way better they're way faster they're easier to use and they're more powerful
these almost never happen in a convenient location and they all frequently happen in areas of high-speed roadway and it's easy to think of all the dangerous things that firefighters do but one that doesn't come to mind a lot is how much time we spend on the side of a road where people are whipping by
we like to do lots of small motions so we don't tear the sheet metal until you get to the actual hard striker part where the latch is and once you get access to that and you have a good purchase then you have your fun and you bust it okay it breaks the actual latch that's what we're trying to do not rip metal
we have a saying in the fire service lift an inch crib an inch we're going to lift it and as Bernie on the right is lifting with the tool Pete is adding in wood as it goes up so that if something goes wrong with the tool it can't fall back down
an important one is if you see an incident on the side of the road we we could really use your help the public is if you see it please move over as far away as possible as you pass so we want people to pay attention to that right and understand that it's dangerous work right and you guys do a lot of things that are dangerous but on the side of the road is really something we ought to pay more attention to we don't want to block traffic and make you late but we also want to make sure everybody goes home safe
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Other Topics from This Document
Firefighter and Public Safety on High-Speed Roadways
Evolution of Emergency Response Equipment
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