New Hydraulic Tools Allow Faster Rescues for Mississippi Emergency Workers

Olive Branch Fire Capt. Dave Taylor says rescue crews will be able to extract people from smashed cars much faster, now that the department has new hydraulic rescue tools.

The Memphis Commercial Appeal reports that crews are training with the new tools, which Deputy Chief Ken Givens says are also much lighter than the old ones.

Givens says the old tools date back to the mid-1980s when he became a firefighter.

Instead of one tool to cut and spread steel, there now are eight kinds of tools.

And firefighters no longer have to power down their hydraulic generators to change tools. The new ones can be changed while the generator is running.