By Jerry Soifer
The Record Searchlight (Redding, California)

CORONA, Calif. — Sixty firefighters including members of the Corona Fire Department sliced up a half-million dollars worth of new Mercedes-Benz SUVs to learn how to extricate accident victims.

The December session at the local training center was meant to teach the manufacturer as well as the firefighters. It was the first of its kind held on the West Coast.

Corona firefighter Andy Torres said cutting up the Mercedes-Benzes was "awesome training because normally we don't have these higher-end vehicles."

There will be more new Mercedes-Benzes among the 100 vehicles, nearly all older, to be dissected by 120 firefighters who attend the 30th annual Auto Ex seminar put on by the Corona Firefighters Association, April 18-20. Students will come from California; Gig Harbor, Wash.; Cody, Wyo.; Maui and possibly Mexico and Peru. The seminar, which costs $425 per student, is a fundraiser for the Corona association.

At the December exercise, firefighters learned that the firewall between the engine compartment and the front seat and the door hinges are so strong that they can make it more difficult for firefighters to rescue trapped people from Mercedes-Benz SUVs.

Tim Lowery, an engineer with Mercedes-Benz, said, "This is a great opportunity to support a local rescue department but also provide them with the Mercedes-Benz which is perceived as the cutting edge of the latest technology."

Lowery said the company donated the SUVs because they were pre-production models, which had not been tested to meet EPA and other federal standards. He said instructions to rescuers are imprinted on the windshield and the rear window of Mercedes.

The ability to rescue crash victims has become critical to Corona firefighters as the city has grown and the area has become a crossroads for freeway drivers on highways 91 and 71 and Interstate 15. When the seminar started in 1978, Corona hired outside experts to teach. Now, Corona firefighters have progressed so far in the skills of auto extrication that they teach along with experts from Curtis & Sons.

"They're (Corona) the No. 1 class that you go to in the western United States if you are an auto ex guy," said Jeff Stone, a rescue specialist for Curtis. "We have six other classes that have derived from the Corona auto ex program."

Jim Ackerman, a fire captain from Ventura, is a regular at the seminar. "Their training is based on the safety of the firefighter while addressing the needs of new technology," Ackerman, a 35-year veteran, said.

At the seminar, firefighters practice on overturned cars, cars on their sides and cars placed at awkward angles on rails. There is no way to simulate the human trapped in the vehicle.

"It's the human aspect of the suffering," Corona Capt. Jim Steiner said. "That's the difference between training and real life. When you have moms and dads and kids who are trapped ... that brings a whole other level of stress to the incident."

The seminar teaches firefighters under duress to observe the wreck to discern the best way to rescue the victims.

"Many times an inexperienced firefighter will be like a moth to the flame," Corona engineer Mike Ponn said. "He'll go to the side of the car where the occupant is. Maybe your best access to that victim is to go to the opposite side or come in from the top ... The shortest distance sometimes isn't the quickest."

Firefighters cannot ever throw up their arms in defeat. The option of last resort is to call a physician to amputate a limb to remove the victim from the crunched metal. Ponn said he thankfully never has had to make such a call.

The air bags and greater tensile strength of the metals in newer cars can make it more difficult and hazardous for firefighters when those vehicles are involved in accidents.