If you saw a crowd of firefighters hanging around Levis Chevrolet in Slidell last week, it wasn’t to buy cars or put out fires.

The dealership was sponsoring a training session for the firefighters on how to safely extricate accident victims from hybrid vehicles.

In these days of skyrocketing gasoline prices, consumers have started buying hybrid cars to cut down on fuel expenses. Hybrids use a combination of electric and internal combustion motors to power the cars. When a vehicle travels under 25 mph, an electric motor, using giant batteries, powers the car. When the vehicle accelerates over 25 mph, the gasoline engine automatically turns on. When that happens, the electric motor batteries are charged by the internal combustion engine. Though a money-saver and good for the environment, Fire District One Chief of Training Rusty Shoultz said the big batteries may pose a danger to both the firefighter and a victim in an accident.

“Hybrids are very safe cars,” Schoultz said, “But in bad accidents there can be danger posed by high voltage.”

He said the frame of the car may carry an electric charge after an accident that could pose a safety hazard to the victim and the firefighters who are trying to extricate the victim from the vehicle.

Levis’ master technician Paul Lanzetta held the seminar for the firefighters on the lot of the dealership. He is a licensed technician on hybrid vehicle, Schoultz said.

“The Chevy people were phenomenal,” Schoultz said.

The chief said firefighters don’t need specialized equipment for hybrids, but the current life-saving equipment such as the jaws of life have to be adapted for the new situation.

Last week’s training session involved 30 firefighters from Fire Districts One and Twelve and the Long Beach Fire Department in Mississippi. Schoultz said the majority of firefighters have been trained in hybrid vehicle extrication, and eventually, all parish’s firefighters will get the training.