Hysmith Skate Park on Rock Prairie Road serves College Station as more than a skate park -- it also provides the College Station Fire Department a chance to brush up on training in an unconventional facility.
Bart Humphreys, the department's public information officer, said firefighters want to be proactive in their training in the skate park, which opened last September and is named in honor of a young College Station skateboarder who died of cancer.
Because the terrain is not ground-level, the firefighters are "challenged down in the bowl" when trying to rescue an injured person, Humphreys said.
Firefighter/paramedic Tony Ray designed the three-day training program for five fire stations. "This is our first time doing training as a department here," Ray said.
Approximately 87 firefighters went through the training Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Firefighters practiced proper "patient packaging" techniques in the skate park basins, which range from just a few feet to 14-to-15 feet deep, Ray said.
Ray said there have been several injuries to skaters at the park, including a broken wrist, an open tibia and fibula fracture, broken ankles, a skull fracture, and a knocked-out tooth.
"We'd rather have [skaters] here, in a safe area, than in the middle of traffic," Ray said. "There's definitely still potential here for injuries. We're doing this back-to-the-basics review over fire and EMS policies, and this was one way to get hands-on, get the whole fire department to walk through the facility."
If someone is injured in the bowl, firefighters will stabilize the neck and back and put a plastic collar on the patient's neck before rolling the patient onto a backboard. They will then slide the patient to a higher level in the bowl.
A ladder will be extended into the shallower section so that the backboard carrying the patient can be slid up the ladder and lifted safely to higher ground.
Angela Hawkins, a mother of three from Bryan, said the firefighter training gives her peace of mind.
"It makes me feel safe to know that we have people in the community taking steps to be trained for an accident like that. There's kiddos out here all hours of the day," Hawkins said.
Shepherd Grimes, an 11-year-old who frequently skates at the park, said he saw the firefighters training over the three-day period. He showed off a polished move on Thursday to the visitors, who had seen him practicing since Tuesday.
Having sustained non-serious injuries in the park, he's especially grateful for the firefighters.
"It's a good thing because if someone falls they will be able to get them out," Grimes said.
Copyright 2012 - The Eagle, Bryan, Texas
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
