MCLEAN VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT NEWS RELEASE

April 1, 2007 - McLean Citizen's Foundation brings "Jaws of Life" to McLean.

This past fall, McLean Volunteer Fire Department with a grant from the Mclean Citizens Foundation ("MCF") and the assistance of the citizens of Mclean (through annual donations) added a new state of the art Heavy Duty Rescue Squad to its fleet of fire equipment. The price tag for the new unit was over $600,000.

McLean Volunteer Fire Department applied for funds to more fully equip McLean's new heavy rescue squad vehicle and once again MCF took the lead and awarded the McLean Volunteer Fire Department with a second grant to equip McLean's new rescue squad with a second set of extrication tools, more commonly referred to as the "Jaws of Life." The second set of equipment will allow firemen to provide expeditious vehicle extractions and other dangerous rescues from either side of a roadway or highway.

The 2006 Pierce Manufactured Heavy Duty Rescue Squad is designed to, among other tasks, carry equipment responsible for extricating persons trapped as a result of vehicular accidents, structural collapses, etc. Extrication tools are synonymous with saving lives. They are essential for the quick opening of vehicles to remove victims. They allow the user to snatch victims from the jaws of death.

The unit in Mclean is the largest unit in Fairfax County and it is the first unit to be equipped with extrication tools on both sides of the unit. Currently other units in the County carry only one set of extrication tools. McLean's unit will have a set of extrication tools on each side of the vehicle in order to accomplish the following objectives: 1) facilitate safer and easier access to the vehicle in which persons are trapped and 2) allow the unit and crew to perform simultaneous extrications in multiple vehicle incidents, 3) extricate a trapped victim faster and more effectively in order to maximize quick victim access to medical attention, 4) increase safe operation for rescue personnel especially in those situations where victim extrication requires working on highways with large volumes of high speed traffic thus reducing the likelihood that rescue personnel become victims themselves.

The MCF grant will be made in two installments, one this month and another in MCF's new fiscal year, which begins in April.

The men and women firefighters at McLean are grateful for MCF's continued support of their local fire department. MCF and the McLean Volunteer Fire Department have a long history of collaboration and both strive to provide value added services to the citizens of McLean.

We hope that the second set of the "Jaws of Life" will help to rescue and save another life in McLean.