Erie Auto Salvage helps firefighter recruits build skills with onsite training
Apr. 16—A team of recruit firefighters from around Boulder County and beyond is spending this week getting hands-on experience with life-saving equipment with support from a local business.
On Tuesday, Erie Auto Salvage Inc. in Dacono hosted onsite learning for 22 firefighters-in-training. As part of their academy curriculum, the recruits spent the day running extrication exercises on 15 junk vehicles provided by the used auto parts yard.
The instructors, who represent a variety of departments within the Front Range Fire Consortium, used the vehicles to simulate accidents involving trapped drivers and passengers. One of the first things recruits learned was how to stabilize a car with the proper equipment.
"In a short amount of time, these individuals are going to be riding on an engine," said John Teague, an instructor from Boulder Fire-Rescue. "You can watch a video, or you can have somebody try to explain how to do this ... but the realism of training like this is so paramount, especially when you're teaching new people."
Joshua Miller, partial owner of Erie Auto Salvage, said the business has been donating junk cars to local fire departments for around five years. For the last two years, Erie Auto Salvage opened its 50-acre lot — filled with roughly 3,000 cars — as a base for the training as well.
Miller said Erie Auto Salvage tries to look for opportunities to donate its vehicles to the community; some cars have even served as props for school plays. He said the banged-up cars are beneficial for the training since they're similar to ones firefighters might encounter at the scene of an accident.
"I just hope that it's helping them become better firefighters, and they can use those skills that they're learning here," Miller said of the training. "It gives them real-world experience."
In February, Mountain View Fire Rescue was called to a fire at Erie Auto Salvage. The flames destroyed a scale house and a trailer, but firefighters were able to contain the blaze within the salvage yard.
"Their response time was awesome," Miller said. "They would have done it for anybody, but it's nice that the people that you help are helping you back."
Ivy Miller, an instructor from Mountain View Fire Rescue and no relation to the salvage yard owners, said it's nice that Erie Auto Salvage provides several cars to train on for this year's large pool of recruits.
"The amount of vehicles they're willing to provide is probably one of the most helpful things," she said. "Trying to simulate this stuff with cars that you can't actually cut, it doesn't do well. A lot of this stuff you can't learn in a book."
Recruits will return to the salvage yard on Wednesday for the second day of extrication training. The next several weeks will incorporate live fire training and other exercises until graduation on May 30.
Ken Miller, Joshua's grandfather and partial owner of Erie Auto Salvage, said he is glad the business has helped so many local organizations in its 50 years of operation.
"I enjoy this place, and I enjoy the people," Ken Miller said.
