Pleasanton VFD sponsors life-saving classes




Many fire departments from near and far attended the training presented by Pleasanton Volunteer Fire Department in March. JOE DAVID CORDOVA | PLEASANTON EXPRESS

Many fire departments from near and far attended the training presented by Pleasanton Volunteer Fire Department in March. JOE DAVID CORDOVA | PLEASANTON EXPRESS

If you drove by the Pleasanton fire station recently, you may have noticed a large group of firefighters tearing apart an old, wrecked vehicle, and curiously wondered what they were doing.

Pleasanton Fire Chief Chuck Garris explained that the department holds classes once a year, training firefighters how to use a very important tool called the “Jaws of Life.”

“We usually hold classes in January since that’s a slow month for firefighters. This year the class was held in March. Classes begin on a Friday from 6-10 p.m. and continue on Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.”

This year there were eight instructors and 69 students from 16 different fire departments. They come from all over Texas, Garris noted – San Antonio, the Rio Grande Valley, Elgin, the Dallas area, Bastrop, and one from Louisiana for example, as well as those in Atascosa County.

“When classes were first started, there would be as many as 100 students, including the Beaumont area. That turned out to be too many, so now the classes are limited to 60 or 70 students, Garris stated.

“Our classes have a good reputation, so we always have plenty of students,” Garris noted.

The classes are held in conjunction with Texas A&M Extension Service. The service awards the certificates and advertises the classes on their website.

The Jaws can open or tear apart metal, allowing rescuers to extricate victims from crushed vehicles, for example. The Jaws the department acquired many years ago were hydraulic.

“They are battery operated tools now,” Garris explained, “and weigh about half as much as the hydraulic ones.”

PVFD retired fire chief, Richard Troell, recalls how the department came to acquire the tools. “The Jaws tool originally was developed for car racing accidents. When fire departments acquired the tool, that led them into the rescue business.”

It began here many years ago, he said, when a New Braunfels salesman demonstrated the tool on a wrecked car – how to take a door off or remove the roof to get people out without further injury. Firefighter Johnny Zamarripa secured an old car from the junk yard for the demonstration.

“We were amazed,” Troell recalled. “We had never seen anything like it.” Firefighters had to use a crowbar and get people out as best they could. Car manufacturers were making car doors stronger, making it difficult to get people out without further injury. Back then there were no ambulances in the county and victims were transported to the hospital by a hearse from the local funeral home, Troell recalled.

Pleasanton VFD needed to acquire the tool but had very little revenue as they were not included in the city budget at that time. The late “Chewy” Zepeda, Assistant Fire Chief, raised a lot of the money for the tool, Troell recalled. The department began giving demonstrations at Cowboy Homecoming which was held in the city park. It took about six months to raise the money needed.

The salesman brought in training. About that time I-37 was opened, Troell recalled, and there were many bad accidents. The department got calls, even from other counties, and began using the Jaws. Pleasanton VFD had the first set of Jaws and inflatable air bags in the San Antonio and South Texas area.

“We started making so many rescues, we got into the rescue business, so to speak. The department ended up with a rescue truck filled with rescue equipment.”

Chief Garris has continued to constantly upgrade the department’s training and equipment needed for fire fighting and rescue work. He works with A&M each year to schedule the training sessions. The department has three fire stations – one in downtown Pleasanton, one in north Pleasanton, and the newer one next to the airport on Airport Road.

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