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Largo extrication team among the world's best
Kailey Tracy reports
LARGO, Fla. - Largo Fire Rescue’s Extrication team recently took home a big win. They won first place at the Transportation Emergency Rescue Committee’s North American Vehicle Rescue Challenge on Long Island, New York in October.
The win qualified the team for the worlds next year in Portugal.
According to Billy Stark, a firefighter paramedic and the team’s incident commander, they practice at least once a week for close to four hours at Pick Your Part Salvage Yard in Largo.
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"You can never create the emotions of the call with a live patient in there and even some of the horrific things that we may see, but if you learn the basics and the foundation of what we do out here, we can put it to use and get through the call a lot faster and stay more focused," Stark said.
The volunteer team, that’s just two years old, has 10 members and nine who compete.
"I couldn't be more proud," Stark said. "The team is full of younger guys who I know when I retire are going to carry this on. So, this is going to be in our department for many, many years, and I think we are going to be one of those teams that departments from all over the country and the world are going to follow us and really appreciate."
"What separates us is our passion and our willingness to come out here and train, the time that we commit out here and the dedication that each one of us has to it," he said.
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Teams are judged on coordination, safety, team leadership, organization, time and communication, among other factors. Stark said they continue to work on communication and trusting each other and evaluate themselves after every scenario, but he’s impressed with the team’s confidence and growth.
"We had started off where we were all screaming and yelling at each other and couldn't figure out what to do and who's doing what to now, we know what each other is doing," he said.
The team also placed in individual categories too, including the following:
- First Place in the Limited (20 minutes with no hydraulic tools)
- First Place in the Unlimited (20 minutes with hydraulic tools)
- Second Place in the Rapid (10 minutes with all tools)
- First Place Medic (Firefighter Spencer VanBuskirk)
- First Place Incident Commander (Firefighter Billy Stark)
- First Place Technical (Firefighters Kyle Parker, Jameson Kinsey, Dane Matta, and Nick LeBlanc)
Five teams total competed. Largo’s extrication team is competing again this weekend in Miami in a regional competition.