Before the arrival of fire crews, passersby consider calling 911. When the training begins drivers slow down to glance a peak, and as pedestrians walk past, many of them gather across the street to watch as the spectacle unfolds. Cell phones invariably come out, taking pictures and video of what appears to be a terrible accident scene, but they’re all wrong.

The vehicle that has smashed through the front of an apartment building is part of a training exercise, designed to provide experience handling difficult rescues that are normally hard to simulate. A series of flood buy outs in Moorhead has provided a unique opportunity to conduct training that actually damages buildings in the process, an option not normally available.

It is not an unheard of situation. Moorhead Fire has responded to calls for vehicles that have crashed into buildings before. This scenario added the complication of a crash fairly deep into the building, and into a garden level apartment, one that is partially above and partially below ground. Manikins simulating victims are trapped in the apartment under the car and in the driver seat of the car itself.

Firefighters must first survey the scene, looking for all potential hazards and victims. Next they evaluate the structural stability of the building and possibility of collapse. Stabilizing the vehicle comes next, using telescoping poles to prop up the front of the car and a chain on the rear to keep the sedan from further crushing the victim, or harming firefighters during the rescue. Then a series of power and hydraulic tools are employed to safely remove crushed metal from around the victims and allow their treatment and removal for transportation to the hospital.

Hours of work went into creating a safe training environment in the building, while the hands-on portion of the drill took less than two hours.