PREECEVILLE - On June 9, Preeceville Volunteer Fire Department members travelled to Canora and joined the Canora and District Fire Department when they held an EV-X (Electric Vehicle Extrication) training course.
They were joined by members from several surrounding communities, including: Sturgis, Rhein, Ebenezer, Wadena, Invermay as well as two members from the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) Emergency Response Team. During this time members learned the ins and outs of extrication and extinguishing practices related to accidents involving electric vehicles.
Topics that were covered include schematics of the different makes and models of electric vehicles, patient and scene safety as well as how to properly extinguish a fire and avoid reignition.
Overall, participants indicated that the course was a huge success. The instructor was helpful and the firefighters came out of the course at the end of the day with an abundance of knowledge to use for the future. Organizers stated, “We would like to give a huge thank you to Kevin Patterson from EV-X for making the trip out and sharing his knowledge with us.”
“The course was a very valuable educational tool with learning a lot of the different types of electric systems that are out there,” said Trevor Bartel, Preeceville Fire Chief. “The instructor explained to us about the electrical systems. The high voltage systems can have up to 1,000 volts on some models. We learned how to properly disable the system, along with the proper way which was to put out electrical fires. The car the instructor brought was a Tesla 3, almost brand new that was opened up for us to look through. There are certain access points for firefighters to cut that will disable the electrical high voltage system as it is energized by the low voltage system. After disabling the system there is a very slim chance of getting shocked,” he said.
