LYNN — The fire department will donate two surplus jaws of life rescue tools to Ukraine.
City Council voted to approve the equipment donation at a meeting Tuesday night.
The department, Fire Chief Daniel Sullivan said, recently upgraded its jaws of life tools to battery-operated portable options, putting the old pair out of use for years.
The department will donate the equipment through OSF Healthcare, an Illinois-based non-profit that facilitates ambulance and equipment donations to Ukraine.
Sullivan said he decided to donate the jaws to Ukraine after he heard that the Beverly Fire Department donated a surplus fire engine last month at a regional fire chiefs’ meeting.
“I just thought it would be a good humanitarian gesture to help people in need,” Sullivan said. “We had them sitting in storage collecting dust, and we weren’t going to use them ever again, so the timing of [the chiefs’ meeting] was perfect.”
The jaws of life, which Sullivan said are worth thousands of dollars each, each contain four components — a spreader, which can pry open metal; cutters, which are capable of cutting through metal; a ram, which can push metal apart or lift vehicles and heavy objects; and a hydraulic hose, which connects the tool to a power source.
The different components can be quickly used to save trapped passengers.
“They could help people get out of vehicles, tanks, cars. If they’re trapped inside a vehicle, these tools can get them out,” Sullivan said. “We felt it would be in good faith, for humanity purposes, to send some equipment like that where it would really help.”
As the war in Ukraine persists roughly a month past its first anniversary, the United Nations reported last month that roughly 8,000 civilians have been killed since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022.
