It was a dozen years ago, but John Fox recalls the incident
clearly. As a captain with the Felton Fire Protection District, he
heard radio traffic about a horse and rider who had gone off the
side of a trail in a local state park.
It was a dozen years ago, but John Fox recalls the incident clearly. As a captain with the Felton Fire Protection District, he heard radio traffic about a horse and rider who had gone off the side of a trail in a local state park.
The horse was trapped and first responders were struggling to extricate the large animal, having not been trained in such rescues. Fox, an avid horseman, called to offer his assistance, but was told local fire departments couldn’t respond to state parks unless invited.
“The next day, someone told me that if they had the right equipment, they probably could have gotten the horse out,” Fox said. “Everything they needed to help the horse was right there – eight to 10 minutes away – but we couldn’t get there. Nobody took responsibility for larger animals.”
So Fox and his wife, Deb, a fellow firefighter and emergency medical technician in Felton, decided that they could combine their love and knowledge of horses with their medical training to help instruct others in large animal rescues. From a barn on their two-and-one-third acre spread on Buena Vista Road in Hollister, they now run Large Animal Rescue Company.
“All firefighters learn vehicle extraction, ropes, rescue systems,” said Deb, who, along with John, retired from Felton Fire and now volunteers with the San Juan Bautista Fire Department. “It started to make sense that fire departments should get training in adapting their training to large animal rescue. We took our understanding of horse physiology and adapted the knowledge of treating human patients to horse patients.”
The Foxes spend many of their weekends and some of their vacation time training other first-responders in departments throughout the West and Midwest. The two-day, eight-hour-per-day courses are open to anyone and include classroom instruction, manipulative skills and scenario training for just under $200. A primary focus is utilizing tools and materials – such as ropes and hoses – that are easily accessible to emergency response crews, and teaching rescue techniques that utilize that equipment.
“We found no standardized training in large animal rescue, so we took what we found and spent almost a year trying it in the field and adapting our techniques to a standard fire engine,” said John, who also serves as a senior investigator with the California Department of Public Health. “We saw what worked and didn’t work. You can accomplish 98 percent of rescues with what’s already on a fire engine.”
For the full story and more photos, see the Pinnacle on Friday.
