photo by: Lauren Fox

Ben Green, special operations program coordinator with the Kansas Fire & Rescue Training Institute, shows off a hydraulic rescue tool called the "Jaws of Life."

The Kansas Fire & Rescue Training Institute showed off some of its extrication tools Friday morning in Lawrence, demonstrating how they can be used to help firefighters remove victims of car accidents from wreckage quickly and safely.

The extrication tools KFRTI purchased include a hydraulic rescue tool that cuts metal, often called the “Jaws of Life”; airbags that elevate vehicles; cable ratchets that roll vehicles; and step chocks that stabilize vehicles. On Friday, KFRTI demonstrated using the airbags and the hydraulic tool. The bags were used to lift a car Friday morning, and on the scene of an accident they would be used to help free a person trapped underneath a vehicle. The “Jaws” tool enables firefighters to cut off the tops of vehicles to remove people trapped inside cars. On Friday, a volunteer used the tool to cut through a piece of metal.

The Kansas Fire & Rescue Training Institute was able to purchase the tools through grants that State Farm gave the institute in the past two years through KU Endowment. KFRTI received a $25,000 grant from State Farm in 2020 and a $10,000 grant in 2021, which was presented on Friday morning.

Kelly McCoy, director of the KFRTI, said that about 500 accidents each year in Kansas require victims to be extricated from wreckage. The mission of KFRTI, which was created in 1949 by the Kansas Legislature, is to provide training for the Fire Service in Kansas. KFRTI trains and credentials Kansas’ 505 fire departments, which include 14,600 firefighters. Prior to the pandemic, they did about 8,000 training sessions a year across Kansas. They will use their new tools to train fire departments across the state about how to extricate people safely.

photo by: Lauren Fox

Ben Green, special operations program coordinator with the Kansas Fire & Rescue Training Institute, puts his weight on a lift bag, which firefighters can use to raise vehicles in order to rescue people trapped underneath. At left, Mark Thomas, transportation coordinator with the the Kansas Fire & Rescue Training Institute, inflates and deflates the bag.

photo by: Lauren Fox

Mark Thomas, left, and Ben Green, right, demonstrate using a lift bag to raise a car.

photo by: Lauren Fox

University of Kansas student Tyler Altholz, at left, volunteered to try the “Jaws of Life” hydraulic rescue tool on a piece of metal Friday morning.

photo by: Lauren Fox

Ben Green, special operations program coordinator with the Kansas Fire & Rescue Training Institute, shows off a piece of metal a volunteer cut using the institute’s hydraulic rescue tool called the “Jaws of Life.”

photo by: Lauren Fox

Kelly McCoy, director of the University of Kansas’ Kansas Fire & Rescue Training Institute, at left, stands next to local State Farm agents Rochelle Tramp and Kurt Goeser at an extrication demonstration event on April 23. State Farm donated $10,000 to the Kansas Fire & Rescue Training Institute’s vehicle extrication and rescue unit.

photo by: Lauren Fox

A crowd gathered on April 23 to watch the University of Kansas’ Kansas Fire & Rescue Training Institute demonstrate their extrication tools. State Farm donated $10,000 to the Kansas Fire & Rescue Training Institute’s vehicle extrication and rescue unit.