He makes stretcher out of trees, coat, sweatshirt and his chainsaw
Last Thursday Avista’s safety folks surprised employee Matt Anderson with a mock ATV accident in the wilderness near Bovill, Idaho. After lifting the ATV off the victim, radioing for help and MedStar, performing CPR and getting a pulse, Anderson grabbed his chainsaw and on the fly made a stretcher out of nearby trees, his coat, sweatshirt and some straps from his own ATV. Once co-workers arrived on scene, which was down a steep wooded embankment, they carried him to a Trooper/SnowCat and evacuated him to a landing zone for MedStar.
I'm working on a full video and of the event to show the entire scene and effort.
Avista creates these mock scenarios to test our employees, emergency procedures and first responders to make sure that when an accident happens – we’re all ready for action.
This was an intricately planned mock accident and no employees, customers or first responders were in any real danger at any time. The ATV was also drained of all fuel and oil prior to placement. The accident location was in rough country under a power line that feeds a mountaintop communications facility, which must be frequently accessed by Avista crews.
It was an amazing scene and the impromptu stretcher was genius.