Rapid extrication from car

Was watching some videos on youtube the other day, and found this (click me). It's norwegian firefighters and air ambulance personnel in an extrication exercise. Oh, and ignore the music -_-

One end of the car is chained to one fire truck/engine, the other to another or something solid. The truck/engine then backs up, cracking the car in two and freeing the person inside.

My question is, is this technique commonly used elsewhere as well?

I have never heard of that technique, seems kind of dangerous and risky though. If they pull it too far something like the dashboard could snap and injury either the patient or the firefighters.

Well I think it's only used if the victims legs are trapped. The idea is to pull the car back into shape. Since it also raises the seat, it makes it easier for EMS to work on him as well.

They use what is called a modified dash roll.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTI-bR9nYUQ
They can use the spreader method like they did there or they can use hydraulic rams to move the dash up and away from legs that are trapped. In my opinion using that method is really dangerous because what if that leg is all tangled up when they pull with the fire truck they might actually make it worse. This actually lifts the dash without having to split the car.
Here's another video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdwdPsVGB6U

Ah, I see. Yeah I thought it was rather strange when I first saw it.

Yeah, that's weird. I've never seen that before. If they pull it too much, something in the car could snap off and hit the patient or firefighters.

I have seen that practice a few times here, however it wasn't with two vehicles, it was with a hydraulic spreader, sorta like a giant Jaws of Life. Very seldom does it have to be used though... Most of the time, the simple jaws work fine enough to free you

Thats pretty cool, a bit too dangerous though!

Yeah, I've heard of the huge hydrolic spreaders before, but not this method.

Would this method be quicker than hydrolic spreaders though?

Quicker but a lot more risky

Yeah, but the hydrolic spreaders don't put otehr people's lives in danger.

I met a guy at the new years eve party I was at who used to be a fire fighter, and I asked him about this extrication method. He said it was rarely used, only when the EMS personnel on scene ordered (here incident command lies with the Police if they're on scene, if not EMS has it, if they're not there then fire has it. But he said that EMS usually gets their way.), and there wasn't time to use hydrolic spreaders. Life was more important than limb, as he put it.