Firefighters train with new equipment

By John Richmeier
Leavenworth Times
Fri Nov 20, 2009



By John Richmeier
Firefighters stabilize an overturned car Wednesday at Leavenworth Fire Station No. 1. Firefighters were training with new equipment.

Leavenworth firefighters spent a lot of time this week around an overturned car.

But the vehicle wasn't on a roadway. It was behind a fire station.

Firefighters trained with new equipment that can be used to stabilize overturned vehicles at crash scenes.

"The goal is to keep the firefighters safe so they can perform their job," said Dennis Metzger, regional manager for Paratech.

Metzger works for the company that manufactured equipment recently purchased by the Leavenworth Fire Department. He led firefighters through this week's training at Leavenworth Fire Station No. 1.

"You just need to keep the car from teeter-tottering," he told a group of firefighters who were working Wednesday around a vehicle that had been placed on its top.