Fire brigade crews in south Tipperary test a vehicle equipped for use in dealing with motor accidents.
In 1973 and 1974 there were 11 fatalities and 102 people seriously injured on the roads in the South Riding of Tipperary. In a fire brigade training exercise, a car accident is staged to test the latest acquisition, a special crash rescue appliance.
The vehicle is manned by firemen who've been specially trained in the rescue of car crash victims.
The specialist vehicle has heavy lifting gear for raising and forcing open vehicles involved in crashes. It also carries oxyacetylene equipment used to cut open doors, hydraulic expanders and jacks, and air-operated cutting gear and saws.
Tipperary is one of the first counties outside of the major cities to provide an emergency vehicle of this nature. The approximate cost of the vehicle is £3,600 and when it is fully equipped, the total will be in the region of £5,000.
As the vehicle has a mobile radio set installed, it can be called on by any fire brigade in south Tipperary.
The vehicle will also be used as a mobile workshop to carry out maintenance repairs on fire appliances throughout the county. Fire engines will be serviced in their own areas of south Tipperary instead of having to travel to Clonmel.
But above all, the new appliance will be of value in coping with serious road accidents involving trapped people.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 15 October 1974. The reporter is Dermot Mullane.
