HURST Jaws Of Life Recognizes More Than 1,500 First Responders In 2017 By Offering Green Cross Honors To

HURST Jaws of Life recognized more than 1,500 first responders from across the country, with Green Cross honors in 2017, noting their dedicated efforts to save or free entrapped patients. The 1,541 recipients include fire fighters, emergency medical technicians and law enforcement officers, from 28 U.S. states, Canada, and South America.

Recognizing first responders

“The stories of dedication and heroism that we hear from the first responders, who use HURST Jaws of Life rescue tools, are part of our inspiration to continually raise the bar in rescue tool performance,” said Bruce Johnston, the Director of Marketing and Product Management for HURST Jaws of Life, which first presented the award in 1973.

Bruce Johnston adds, “We’re proud to share their mission of saving lives and we’re honored that they’ve chosen HURST Jaws of Life to be part of their team when the respond to a call.”

Green Cross honor

The honor is presented to individuals and team responses to incidents, such as a website-featured story that recognized a team of 10 volunteer first responders in Mercer, Pennsylvania. East End Volunteer Fire Department responded to a multi-vehicle crash including an ambulance and four passenger vehicles with multiple entrapments.

“We had a wide range of age and experience, so I sent each officer to a different vehicle. It was almost three separate incidents,” said East End Volunteer Fire Department’s Fire Chief Bill Finley Jr., describing a scene in which there were about 100 yards from one end of the crash site to the other end.

HURST Jaws of Life’s eDRAULIC line tools

He said the team used a variety of tools from the HURST Jaws of Life’s eDRAULIC line

Fire Chief Bill Finley Jr. adds, “We had all three people out within 20 minutes of arriving at the scene. We were really proud of that.” He said the team used a variety of tools from the HURST Jaws of Life’s eDRAULIC line, relying on the portability of the tools, to quickly get to the patients.

He adds, “It’s not common to have multiple vehicles with entrapment, but we had our cordless rescue tools and could spread out, and easily get from one vehicle to the other.”

Early extrication experts

HURST Jaws of Life earned its name nearly four decades ago, because of its ability to reduce the time needed to extricate a patient from a car crash, literally snatching them from the ‘jaws of death’.

Currently, HURST Jaws of Life cutters, spreaders and rescue rams, and their innovative line of battery-powered eDRAULIC tools assist first responders, in easily pulling, prying, lifting, pushing and cutting the high strength steel on modern cars.

Tool training and product development

HURST Jaws of Life and its worldwide network of dealers provide year-round tool training and product development, so first responders are prepared to access the victim and provide medical attention quickly, after a rescue.

First responders, their co-workers and supervisors can register for Green Cross honors online or by calling on their dedicated mobile number, to request for a registration form. Recognition includes a patch bearing the Green Cross symbol that should be applied to the first responder’s HURST Qualification Patch.