Cribbing, it's not for baby

As a firefighter I never though much about it, until the Captain would holler at some of us to grab some of it. I am speaking about cribbing and it's importance in vehicle stabilization. The norm in my department is to make numerous trips back and forth to the rescue truck in order to aquire enough of it to build a cabin fit for king. It's tough enough to work an accident scene in turnout gear, let alone run a 5k race, collecting enough cribbing.

Stabilization of a motor vehicle involved in an accident is critical to rescuer safety as well as for patient care and removal. Hazardous conditions at a rescue scene can be mitigated or even avoided, but the dangers of an unstable vehicle cannot be ignored. It must be dealt with to avoid unwanted conditions that may arise form an unstable vehicle. The people in command at the scenes must recognize the importance of stabilization and it's benefits.

Cribbing at the rescue scene has three objectives: 1)To support the weight of the vehicle. 2)To distribute the weight of the vehicle. 3)To create bulk.

The methods used to stabilize a vehicle must meet certain criteria also. It must safely secure the vehicle and it should also completely immobilize the vehicle to prevent anymore injuries to the victims. And remember K.I.S.S(keep it simple stupid), because the golden hour clock is clicking away. Until recently most of the cribbing on the trucks I have seen, consisted of piles and piles of wood. Short, long, wide, narrow, fat, skinny, but anyway they were numerous and space consuming. These components have worked fairly well and are still of some use.

A major improvement in stabilization occurred a few years ago, when a Florida rescuer designed what now seems to be the industry standard-The Step Chock. The step chock is constructed to resemble a small set of stairs. The base board being a 2x8, about 24 inches long. With each ascending layer being a 2x6, measuring 4 to 6 inches shorter than the board before it. I put a rope on the end to ease in the efforts of its transportation. Complete stabilization can be achieved with the installation of a step chock at each corner of the vehicle. REMEMBER:chock the wheels to prevent the vehicle from rolling away. It would be pretty difficult to work on a patient while rolling down the old interstate. Best way I found to use the step chock was to place two wedges under the base of each chock. This took alot of the guess work out of reducing those small spaces between the chock and the car, without having to go to the next level of the chock(which is not always possible).

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