Firefighters Learn Life Saving Skills

Sunday, April 29th 2007, 2:31 pm

By: News On 6

Oklahoma firefighters spent the weekend learning new skills. Fire departments across northeast Oklahoma are learning how to use the Jaws of Life, as well as other tools to help people escape from wrecked cars. The state of Oklahoma provides this training for paid and volunteer departments. The Tulsa Fire Department, with the help of Central Towing and Yaffe Metals, organized the weekend training exercise.

Tulsa Fire Captain Chuck French says this kind of preparation is essential, even for departments that don't have all the tools. "This is good training for these guys. This is something we enjoy doing. We're teaching them something that's gonna save lives, but we're having a good time,â€ said French. â€œIt's very important. It's like anything in life. If you don't know how to deal with something, you're not going to be very effective at it. And as firefighters we're paid by the citizens to be professional and when we arrive on scene they expect us to fix these and rescue people. So it's real important to get the training prior to being out in the field."