Ready for the call

Members of Madison’s Heavy Urban Rescue Team run through a trench collapse training session in July. Photo courtesy of the AGC of Wisconsin

For those dedicated to emergency response, watching a disaster claim lives just isn’t an option.

“Once you’re called, it’s very hard to stand by and say, ‘We can’t do this, we can’t help,’” said Bernie Martinez, division chief in charge of the Heavy Urban Rescue Team with the Madison Fire Department.

“Firefighters are going to step in and try to help.”

But he realizes this instinct can, in the event of a trench collapse, worsen the tragedy. The very act of walking into the situation can trigger a secondary collapse, sweeping the would-be rescuer along with it or sending heavy machinery sliding into the danger zone.

“Trench collapses have the highest fatality rate for the rescuers,” Martinez said.

And chief in his mission is making sure the 75 HURT members he works with make it through every call alive. The best way to do that is to be deliberate, remaining patient as supports and braces are assembled and put into place and as pneumatic struts, harnesses and air bags are methodically used.

The team members recently completed a comprehensive training designed to prepare them to respond to these situations. The department owns several pieces of high-end equipment essential to trench rescues, thanks to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant, but the city’s budget couldn’t cover the training cost for the HURT members.

That’s where the Associated General Contractors of Wisconsin stepped in, paying for the training it knows could one day save the lives of its members. Every year, 45 to 60 contractors die as the result of trench collapses, said Laura Cataldo, the AGC of Wisconsin’s director of marketing and public relations.

Luckily, the HURT team has never responded to a real trench collapse — Martinez credits the vigilance of local excavators for that — but the members know their first such response could happen any time.

“It’s like a fire,” Martinez said. “If you haven’t had one in a long time, that doesn’t mean you’re unlikely to ever have one. It means you’re that much closer to the next one.” — Jennifer Pfaff

Novum Structures is in the process of creating portal entry kits for Toyota dealerships across the country. Photo courtesy of Novum Structures LLC

Novum puts the pieces together

Sneaking a peak at the picture on the box almost always makes it easier to connect the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle into a cohesive whole.

But what if the challenge is to create the jigsaw pieces, knowing the picture on the box can and will change nearly 1,300 times?

Stepping undaunted into this design scenario, Menomonee Falls-based Novum Structures LLC set about creating a kit of parts — everything from steel trusses to glass panels to lighting — that can be used to construct illuminated front portals for Toyota dealerships nationwide. The kit is designed to meet individual dealership’s needs, from local zoning regulations to Wisconsin snow loads and California’s seismic activity, said Terry Peterson, Novum Structures’ vice president.

“We needed to even allow for flat or curved portals with flexibility in the entry dimensions as well,” he said.

The new system, built just for Toyota, is already in place in 200 dealerships nationwide, and installations will continue until 2011. The approximate value of Novum’s contract is $150 million.

— Jennifer Pfaff