On Monday, April 6, 2015, at 2317 hours, the King of Prussia Volunteer Fire Company (Station 47) was dispatched with Lafayette Ambulance Squad (Station 317) to their second vehicle rescue of the night. Notes indicated there was a motorcycle operator trapped under another parked vehicle. Squad 47 (Elder) arrived in under four minutes from initial dispatch and confirmed the caller’s report. The patient was pinned between the minivan’s rear axle, his motorcycle, and the asphalt. Chief 47 (J. Gallagher), Rescue 47 (Camarda) and Field 47 (DiSanto) then arrived on-scene. Engine 47-1 (Durland) responded to a nearby park where the crew established a helicopter landing zone so the patient could be airlifted to a level one trauma center in the City of Philadelphia.
On-scene, crews stabilized the vehicle with cribbing and deployed Paratech Maxiforce Air Lifting Bags on both sides of the vehicle in front of the rear wheels. Two air bags were stacked on each side to ensure the maximum amount of lift needed was achievable. In close coordination with the paramedics, rescue crews then lifted the minivan, cribbing along the way, until the motorcycle could be removed and paramedics had enough room to extricate the patient out from under the vehicle. Rescue crews completed the incident by assisting paramedics with patient packaging and then performing a slow and coordinated lower of the minivan so as not to cause it any further damage.
