Firefighters from various cities participate in a two-day training symposium last week that included setting up various accident scenes at Joe’s Towing Service in Pinellas Park.
PINELLAS PARK – Joe’s Towing Service has been around for decades.
It boasts a secure garage where police bring wrecked cars to tear them down while looking for the cause of accidents.
There’s a salvage yard loaded with remnants of cars, trucks, vans and motorcycles.
There’s a pet tiger named Ty, and even an overweight pit bull mix junkyard dog named Elvis.
It’s all operated by Joseph G. Kolodziej, a New Jersey-born firefighter buff who runs five different towing services with approximately 50 tow trucks and other vehicles on Pinellas County roads.
Most important is that Kolodziej helps fire departments and rescue units from all over Pinellas County, the state and even the nation train on his property at 6670 114th Ave.
He provides the land, the vehicles and other assistance to help rescue personnel deal with various motor vehicle emergencies they may encounter in real life.
“Up until the 1980s tow truck drivers did a lot of the rescue work because we had the extraction and other equipment and fire departments didn’t,” Kolodziej said. “Seminole fire was the first agency to get its own equipment so then we started to offer a training ground for them. It just grew from there.”
The most recent two-day training session was held last week. More than 100 firefighters from Pinellas County and from as far away as North Carolina were on hand to work at makeshift accident scenes that included vehicle turnovers, cars hung up on barricades, and even one case of a boat colliding into the back of a pick-up truck.
Dean Shepherd is a Pinellas Park fire lieutenant who also represents Southern Rescue Tools. He’s seen his share of real automobile accidents over the years. He and other company employees help train fire rescue personnel.
“Automobiles are far safer today than they were 20 years ago,” Shepherd said. “But they also represent new challenges for rescue personnel due to their safety features.”
Most modern vehicles have multiple airbags, disposal gas canisters that can easily explode, and special features that make some resemble rolling safety cages.
“Rescue personnel must know what to do before cutting open a car at an accident scene,” Shepherd said.
Shepherd’s company offers various metal cutters, some of which can produce up to 320,000 pounds of force.
Using actual vehicles at Joe’s Towing Service allows firefighters the opportunity to get real-time training. They learn teamwork and how to deal with potential disasters such as exploding batteries on hybrid vehicles that have become fashionable in recent years.
One manufacturer, Toyota, actually provides training for firefighters on ways to deal with battery-operated vehicles.
For Kolodziej, it provides him the opportunity to help rescue personnel do their jobs more efficiently. He moved here from the Jersey Shore in 1962 and operated gas stations at various Pinellas County locations. At 70 he’s not ready to retire. He operates his businesses with wife Priscilla, and son, Joseph Jr., 48, and daughter, Jackie, 43.
His relationship with firefighters began in 1982 when Seminole approached him to help with their training. Now firefighters come from all over Florida and as far away as New York to train and be trained in the latest rescue techniques.
Kolodziej is a nostalgia buff who sports a 1950s-era duck tail haircut. His pet tiger, Ty, is 7 years old. It was given to him by Vern Yates of Seminole’s Wildlife Rescue when the cat was only 4 pounds. It actually lives there, but regularly visits Kolodziej’s facility.
“He’s over 700 pounds now and is 7 years old,” Kolodziej, a retired Navy Seabee said.
His daughter is into cougars. The fur and head of a former pet is spread over an office recliner.
Kolodziej spent two years in Vietnam building bridges, runways and roads. He has a lot of respect for firefighters, which is why he opens his facility up to them for training.
“We create accident scenes here that are as close as possible to the real thing,” Kolodziej said. “Different situations call for different methods and tools.”
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