This past September members were able to get off the streets and head into the woods of the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation for a week long training of basic and advanced level Polaris operation. Members teamed up with instructors from Polaris Government Defense and took to the trails where they were able to cover topics like basic emergency operations of the off-road vehicles, trail riding, injured patient packaging and removal from the tough terrain and even night vision operations. Our firefighters teamed up with Westchester County Police SOD/Aviation one day and had Aviation airlift an injured patient off of the overlook and to an awaiting ambulance. This training is extremely valuable to our members and other agencies as it showcased the capabilities of the equipment and fine tuned our skills in case a rescue need to be preformed in rough terrain.

This training was made possible by the planning of Asst. Chief Vincent Zafonte in careful coordination with Jeff Main, the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation park superintendent, and the Westchester County Police.

The PRFD would like to thank the Westchester County Parks Dept. for allowing us to once again utilize the park for an unthinkable training and thank the park patrons for their cooperation as we attempted to keep nature as peaceful as possible during this training.

Photos – Todd at Polaris Government Defense.