In the months leading up to April 15, Californians whose vehicles are limping or well beyond repair have dozens of tax-deductible options, many of them through cars-for-causes charities. But there's another solution — one that pays cash forÃ¯Â¿Â½ clunkers, whether they're running (poorly) or even wrecked. It's called Cars 4 Fire Rescue.
Founded by firefighters for firefighters who need cars to help them train in rescue techniques, the Anaheim group is a partnership between SA Recycling and a firefighter training program. SA Recycling pays vehicle owners $150 to $250 per car, based on its recycled value; $50 from each vehicle is then donated to the Southern California Auto Extrication Academy, which takes place at Anaheim's North Net Fire Training Center each fall.
"Take a vehicle and all the variables that go into a vehicle accident – impact, the number of people in a car and the car itself. The car is constantly changing, and we need to change our techniques to have the highest likelihood of success," said Randy Babbitt, a Huntington Beach Fire Department engineer who teaches vehicle rescue through the Auto Extrication Academy.
During last year's Auto-X, as the academy is called, 40 of the 100-plus vehicles used in the annual three-day training session came through Cars 4 Fire Rescue. Dozens of others were donated through the North American headquarters of Japanese automakers, including Mazda, Mitsubishi and Toyota.
The good news is that new vehicles are equipped with ever-improving technologies that make them safe, Babbitt said. The bad news is that those same structural and restraint technologies often complicate the rescue process in the 10 percent to 15 percent of accidents for which a vehicle needs to be removed from around its occupants.
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