You know, there are good and then REALLY good days

Jame Hope has been working with Champion Tools (they make ‘Jaws of Life’ kind of equipment) for, gosh, probably the last 4-5 years to provide them Volvo cars to rip apart (see http://www.volvoblog.us/2009/08/26/champion-rescue-tools-and-volvo/). First, he had to figure how to tell accounting, our customs people, and scores of others that what he was doing wasn’t easy, but today, it’s a piece of Swedish coffee cake.

Even with Volvo providing cars, there is more demand than we can supply from an increasing group of accident responder schools. So James, creatively thinking as always, wrote this to all US PR guys.

He’s good at begging and also a darn good writer.

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Hi all, (meaning hello to fellow PR people – dj)

First things first: This isn’t a pitch and I don’t want you to even respond to me.

I only ask that you take 30 seconds from your very busy day to read on. What you do following this note has no impact on me or Volvo. It may, however, help a first responder save the life of one of your customers.

It is well known that passengers are better protected with each evolution of passenger compartment technology, and that this safety took a huge leap forward with the incorporation of newer metals and metal combinations that the industry is using today.

But because of this great leap in safety technology, firefighters are increasingly arriving on the scenes of serious accidents involving today’s modern vehicles and discovering that their existing vehicle extrication techniques and tools are inadequate. This can delay the time it takes firefighters to get victims (your customers) out of these vehicles.

There is more background below. However, I’d like to cut to the chase so you can get on that conference call. If you have a proving ground in the U.S. where cars are moldering away in the sun, never to be sold and set to be scrapped, the Five Star Extrication Academy will gladly take these cars off your hands at no expense. They cover pick-up, transport and U.S. Customs-approved disposal (along with supporting paperwork). It’s no muss, no fuss. If you’re interested, simply shoot an e-mail or phone Brain James with the Five Star Extrication Academy. He can be reached at: Brian James – Simpatico Communications – 415-312-8746 or skilledpr@yahoo.com. I’m sure you’re wondering if I’m working for Simpatico. Rest assured, I’m not. I’m gainfully employed at Volvo and have no affiliation with Brian or the academy. However, if you’re not sure you want to reach out to him, by all means call me. I can give you the skinny.

If you’re down with this idea it costs you nothing but a few e-mails and has the potential to gain some media exposure. I know this because I’ve been handling it for Volvo for the last couple of years and Volvo continues to provide vehicles to the academy and other fire departments whenever we can. The problem is I don’t have enough cars!

Now, if you’re still hanging on every word, please read on.

The real issue is that firefighters have no problem finding junk cars at the nearest salvage yard. But finding modern cars built with today’s safety systems are problematic. The older the car, the more likely you are to find one in the junk yard. But how many 2010 Volvo S80s are just lying around Bob’s Barnyard of Broken Cars? Not many. And the same goes for any manufacturer.

Two years ago, Volvo partnered with the Five Star Extrication Academy. The vision for the pilot Academy was to offer firefighter training officers a day-long, no-cost training program about and with today’s tough new vehicles. Firefighters would then use this training to help reduce the time to extricate victims of today’s vehicle accidents which often leads to improved medical outcomes for accident victims.

Because Volvo is all about preserving life, we eagerly joined this effort. In the first two years, Volvo provided over $750,000 worth of vehicles from our Arizona proving grounds to the Five Star Extrication Academy, vehicles that would otherwise have been discarded. The firefighter training officers who attended these academy classes were then able to share their knowledge with thousands of firefighters who rescue vehicle accident victims daily.

This two-year pilot met with overwhelmingly positive responses from firefighters and their departments, and received a good bit of positive local television and emergency services’ trade media coverage. But that was simply frosting on the cake.

Now, as a result of the pilot program, there are more than 80 large fire departments in the United States and three Canadian provinces presently that want to offer the Five Star Extrication Academy classes to their rescue personnel, including New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Additionally, governments in Asia, Europe, and Latin America, including China, have offered to host this program for their national firefighting commissions.

Obviously, this initial idea to help save lives has blossomed into a global opportunity.

I just wanted to make you aware of the opportunity to support the growth of this training program for firefighters by providing test vehicles to this program. The growth of this program is only limited by the supply of donated five star crash-rated vehicles.

Best regards,

James Hope

Product Communications

Volvo Cars of North America, LLC

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Kind regards,
dan

Tags: Five Star Extrication Academy, jaws of life, Volvo