Malden Firefighters Use Jaws of Life in Emergency Rescue Demo

A couple dozen people attended a Jaws of Life demonstration put on by the Malden Fire Department Thursday afternoon at City Hall Plaza.

Shortly after noon, a group of youngsters from the My Little Best Friends and On The Road Again daycares watched in awe as firefighters ripped opened a green all wheel drive Forester—donated by Malden-based Spadafora's Auto Parts—using the Jaws of Life, which is emergency rescue equipment used to free people from a mangled vehicle following an accident. 

"Most people haven't seen the Jaws of Life so we decided to give a demonstration on how they work," said Fire Chief John Colangeli. "With this demonstration, we showed how we can cut up a car completely within 15 to 20 minutes, jack up a car in case someone was trapped under it and just show some of the equipment the fire department has."

Colangeli discussed how the Jaws of Life "puts out about 20,000 pounds per square inch" while working to free occupants from inside a vehicle.

"Years ago you had one item you could use, a spreader, and that was it," he said. "Today, they are much, much lighter and we have a spreader, a cutter and a ram tool and we actually use all three at the same time to extricate people from vehicles they are trapped in."

This year the fire department has had to use the Jaws of Life about 4-5 times, according to Colangeli. As it turns out the most recent incident where the rescue equipment needed to be used was on a Malden Police cruiser following an accident in the city, he added.

"We had to use them on a cruiser on Eastern Avenue," he said. "The other night we were heading out on a medical aid call and the cruiser was responding also, and a car actually pushed into the cruiser at an intersection and it was right in front of us. We called for the ladder truck to show up and we used the Jaws (of Life) to extricate a police officer."

Officer Trent Headley was "injured but he is OK now," and the "cruiser got pretty banged up," according to Colangeli.

While Sparky the Fire Dog visited with children, firefighters used airbags underneath the vehicle to lift it up as though a person were trapped below.

Firefighters also conducted a church raise, which involved raising a 35-foot extension ladder straight into the air and a firefighter climbing to the top and back down. 

"It's a confidence builder to make sure the firemen that are here to protect you certainly aren't afraid of heights and are willing to put themselves in harm's way as we do just about every day to protect the public we so love to serve," Colangeli said. 

The demonstration wrapped up a week's worth of activities in Malden, as the fire department kept busy during National Fire Prevention Week. Each of the city's three fire stations held two-hour open houses, and also worked with Domino's Pizza to deliver pizza to three homes where they also checked smoke detectors to make sure they were functioning properly and also replaced batteries, if needed.

Deputy Fire Chief Leonard Dunn III said it's important that people have fully functional detectors inside their homes in the event of an emergency.

"Check to make sure you have smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and make sure they are working," Dunn said, adding that firefighters will be visiting senior housing locations soon to spread the word about the importance of the detectors.

Mayor Gary Christenson said he was appreciative of all the families that came out for the open houses this week. Through a $500 grant from FM Mobil, the fire department was able to "print out fire prevention brochures in several languages which was huge," Dunn added.