Up close behind-the-scenes with firefighters as they train for rescuing crash victims

CHICAGO (CBS) -- We report about car accidents and back-ups all the time. You've heard us use the line before: "Rescuers had to bring out the jaws of life!" Now we are seeing them up close - busting open doors and breaking through windows.

Morning Insider Lauren Victory takes us inside the action.

In the middle of a Romeoville industrial park this week, it looked like a multi-car pileup. Glass littered the ground. Bumpers hanging off vehicles. Doors scattered across the pavement.

In the middle of the action was Romeoville firefighter-paramedic Brook Kehoe, trying to free someone trapped in a car. No one was actually inside. The whole rescue operation was merely a simulation - a chance to safely test out some heavy equipment needed when time is of the essence.

"Practice makes perfect. You got to be able to play with them [extrication tools] to figure out what works best for you and different maneuvers that you can do to," Kehoe said.

Crews come from all over Illinois to study at the Romeoville Fire Academy. The state certification class prepares them for different scenarios.

"For the car behind us, it's on all four wheels but as the class goes on, they'll have cars on their side, cars on the roof. They'll have cars on top of each other," said Romeoville Battalion Chief Brian Johnson, who serves as an academy instructor. "They can work on anything from breaking glass to cutting batteries to peeling peak which is peeling the plastic back."

Trainees are effectively creating a 25-vehicle graveyard to prevent you from heading to one.

But this crucial class is in jeopardy.

"Yes, it's very fair to say that we are desperate," said Eric Drew, manager at Fire Towing, based in Downers Grove. The company supplies all the cars for this sort of training and others like it across the state.

"We rely on the general public to donate vehicles to us," he said.

Drew's stockpile is depleted right now. He blames the pandemic.

"Nobody's traveling, nobody's buying cars, nobody is getting rid of cars," Drew said.

Anyone with a junk car can get it picked up for free by Fire Towing. Donors will also receive $200 cash, a letter for a tax deduction, and the satisfaction of knowing your clunker could help save a life. The fastest way to donate? Call 630-960-5330.

If not enough donations come in, Chief Johnson said the next vehicle extrication training may need to be canceled.

While his team (thankfully) doesn't need to rely on their "jaws of life" skills often, firefighters like Kehoe confirm she's been involved in real-life rescues.

"Your adrenaline kicks in and then you just kind of, you depend on your training," she said.

Training keeps evolving because car manufacturing does too.

We're told the firefighters are especially trying to practice rescues from electric vehicles, but those types of donations don't come in very often.