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Show DAILY forced atlitxs. Tough t rumj'lr many as t'.unlwuvd front At , imTand lnb-injras fw air dnen baps with The Aw rutted lYrss. rescue officials and experts from around the United Slates said the new technology if. alv) hindering extrication of injured people. Iro reasing ly forcing crews to work deeper into the critical Hut in interviews "It wasjtisl the snut out of the tools." adding minute and delaying medical treatment, Koberis said 1 here is no question that today's cars save lives by cot;roning motorists in rein DON'TMISSDILLARD'S..: ; special event! Hop Into Dillard's For Easter Saturday, March 22 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. Ms Upper Level Hop into the Dress Departments for our Easter event! Receive an Easter flower and a very special gift To with your schedule regular-pric- e dress purchase. ; a personal fitting appointment, call Dillaid's The Style of Your ac"ft'iklen hour" cident and treatment by emergency room doctors ()n many 2( )S and later t ar, an extrication that once took Klor 15 minutes can now take twice that or longer. To cat c h up, count ies and cities are spending tens of if they thousands of dollars can afford it - to buy more powerful equipment that can cut through newer cars' reinforced steel and the lighter, tougher exotic metals used in roofs, posts and doors. Then there are obstacles that endanger rescuers' safety. Pressurized gas canisters that inflate air bags can explode if pierced by cutting tools. Rescuers can be blown from cars when air bags suddenly inflate. Hidden battery cables in hy- brid cars can deliver a powerful shock. To protect themselves, workers now have to peel away the ceiling and interior plastic to see what's underneath before they can even ft AID Life. waMe Obstacles to a safe rescue Mod'" .' Mfy llu"M ttit for f9co' Cs1 tmpiov c" t a.A o tw aayw'Out omon Some hMirds to rescuers pfotert oocur"ti tying to (1act '" r M Automatic - tibr M'ety cages te difficult to cut X.,"ss if ' -- NiT .... - ' .' - . -- ' .tnrt. Air bags inflate at up to 200 mph their intlators can explode pretensloners activated by a gunpowder charge SOURCE: COMCARE making it heav ier and more expensive. A single Hurst cutter and power unit runs about $25,000. Add hydraulic spread- ent ways to attack cars with their cutters, spreaders and saws. Some agencies with equipment more than a few years old are arriving at ac- ers and other tools and the cident scenes and finding out price rises quickly. A fire crew in Bonita that it will no longer do the job. "Because their shearing Springs, Fla., discovered the materials had been so success- problem last year when it ful for so many years, some rolled up on a 2007 Lexus that had overturned. Hydraulic agencies hadn't developed a Plan B," said Tom Hollenstain, cutters only a few years old who works to educate rescuers wouldn't shear the strengthabout new auto technology at ened steel roof posts, so the crew had to move quickly to the State Farm Insurance vehicle research center. cut other parts of the car. A makjob that should have taken a Leading hydraulic-too- l ers such as Hurst Jaws of Life few minutes required 20 minutes of cutting and sawing to whose namesake, George remove the driver. Hurst, introduced the first Assistant Chief Ken Craft hydraulic extrication tools for said the incident led the departauto racing in the early 1970s ment to buy new, heavy rescue tools costing $54,000 a sw'.ng jackets g This swing jacket is full of details: ornamental shoulders and dramatic buttons. In bright spring colors. Linenrayon blend. f0 Nygard Collection. trend-settin- 1 69.00 f Mike Ader. a volunteer firefighter in Rockville, Md.. roof recalled the lavered-stee- l post from a 2008 Toyota Cam-rthat wouldnl budge under the blades of a hydraulic cutter after a broadside crash Jan. 2. The patient, whose injuries were serious but not finally had to be maneuvered around the post. Ader used two types of saws and numerous blades to remove the post after the patient was removed. The department quickly decided to buy a new,, more powerful cutter. The flip side, of course, is that more people are surviving horrific crashes that would have killed them just a few years ago. The Fusion's passenger, for example, was hurt but conscious and joking with Roberts as the crew worked to get him out. The driver of the other vehicle a 2001 Ford pickwas dead at the scene. up With about three people hurt in car crashes every minute in the United States, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration spokesman Rae Tyson said he is comfortable with the trade-of- f . Rescue workers, he said, will have to work harder to keep up with technology, just like everybody else. "The fatMity rate for passenger vehicles is the lowest in history," Tyson said. "That, to me, is a pretty good news story." One problem for rescue workers is how to get the latest technical information about newer cars and how to deal with them. Later this year, the nonprofit group COMCARE Emergency Response Alliance, with cooperation from automakers, is introducing a single Web site that will offer schematics and safety specs for most cars on the road. Rescue workers could flip open a laptop computer on the way to a crash scene to find out about the construction of the car, placement g of canisters and other . air-ba- n details. v... Automakers say they are doing more to make safety information available to rescuers and tool makers before new models come out. For instance, Ford is already offering a look at the skeleton of the 2009 pickup, built with the strongest steel construction the company has ever used. "We want to facilitate the discussion as much as possible, because we understand the critical nature of their work," Ford spokesman Wesley Sherwood said. - w , j r - AY 'i ; 1 I ii, 11 I .a i Bonus Days C y Dillaid's March 1 twMMlBTAMM The Style of Your Life. BONUS DAYS ARE HERE nm Earn 250 Bonus Points Every Time You Use Your Dillard's Card at Dillard's or on Dillards.com between March 1st and March 22nd, 2008 (2,500 Points Maximum) f 1 Mild) ollm, Cjnihi'loen I. M mi Much recciw 11 20 hows minis EmrTO oftctn. ud diirvVn of DtDard'v Pi Hard's Rtuini Pfprram Rnitis the in tart Wt mi Ami lo histo Sec Inc. t nol anelt itctipi piatlaK nude Dillmfi Cm! with rraumm difjbk. prngnm icnrn in cmfal Bonos i Diltaf s or imnj of iS piws online) 10 btlwa puidusa). m nlkt iftilm only lo canfnUm cumlly amlled ll ffikauon or yow cmflyloT ifwmcnt for details. 10-- 9 y and closed Easter Sunday at all Dillard's locations. Shop Provo, at Provo Towns Centra. In Salt Lake City at Fashion Place and South Towns Center. In Ogden, at Newgate Mall. In Logan, at Cache Valley Mall. We welcome your Dillard's Credit Card, The American Express Card, Diners Club International, Mastercard? Visa and The Discover Card. Monday-Saturda- In city y Battery packs and high voltage power lines on hybrids can deliver shocks Gas ., J ,. WHAT'S I y ennsf fr mund 40.UX) "If the automakerj roll exit something mw m'xt year, we could be right back where we were at." Craft said. "That the problem w e're confronted with." Rnhrcd ttMl start cutting. Experts cannot say for ' certain whether the delays in getting these victims to the hospital have resulted in people dying. But that's the fear. "We build more fire stations, we make faster fire trucks, we've got helicopters to get : you to the hospital," said Roberts, an expert who teaches extrication to colleagues around Florida. "But what's slowing us down are these vehicles that are harder for us to get into." The problem has rescue must keep putting more workers scrambling to update their tools and explore differ- oomph into their equipment, Ladies' and Juniors' Dress Departments - Ml "TTT JjJ. |