BEDFORD - (February 23, 2022) -The Board of Works approved a new county Extrication Standard Operating Procedure during the Board of Works meeting Tuesday afternoon.
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This comes following the recommendation from Bedford Mayor Sam Craig and Bedford Fire Chief John Hughes.
The new policy will allow any responder to disregard the extrication unit if those responders discover no one is trapped in a vehicle. The previous policy by the Lawrence County 911 Board would only allow a law enforcement officer to disregard the extrication team.
The old policy would have Bedford Fire Department run emergent to calls where all the occupants were out of the vehicle, but the volunteer firefighters or emergency medical services could not disregard them, due to the policy.
In addition, Bedford Fire Department will be in charge of all county extrications when they arrive on scene. Several volunteer fire departments now have their own extrication equipment and is now a required course for all firefighters including volunteers in the State of Indiana.
The Bedford Fire Department has been under contract for extrication services for over 26 years with new contracts varying over the last 11 years. Several volunteer fire departments now have extrication in their departments. The Bedford Fire Department will not take over the scene unless there are concerns of life safety issues.
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The Lawrence County 911 Board policy would only allow Bedford Police Department to dispatch the extrication team at their station, the new policy now will allow both Bedford Police and Lawrence County Central Dispatch to notify Bedford Fire of a county extrications run.
Lawrence County pays Bedford Fire Department $65,000 a year for extrication services.
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