A Scarborough auto recycling facility is being recognized for its role in supporting the development and training Canada's top-ranked vehicle-extrication team.
During a Markham city council meeting, Standard Auto Wreckers and its owner David Gold were recognized in a presentation delivered by Fire Capt. Brad Sterling.
“Dave [Gold] supplies us with cars and his staff every single week,” Markham Fire Capt. Brad Sterling told city council members. "We have easily cut up over $100,000 worth of vehicles free of charge over the years.”
The Markham Extraction Team trains at Standard's Scarborough yard each week. Sessions involve staged collision scenarios using the facility's ready supply of scrap vehicles, with the crew working to extract a mock patient under time pressure, simulating real-life rescue conditions.
Sterling, who founded the MTX in 2021 and served as its commander until retiring last year, said it would have been impossible to develop the team without the support of Gold and his team.
"Because of Dave and his crew, we can train like no other team in Canada," he told council."
He adds that, in its early days, the team had no idea what it was doing."Our extrication team started with a sawzall, some homemade cribbing and second-hand tools that were broken more times than they worked," Sterling said. "We were awful and we learned by watching YouTube videos."
These days, it regularly participates in competitions. In September 2025, the MXT was the only Canadian team at the World Rescue Challenge in Karlovac, Croatia, competing against 36 extrication crews from 28 countries. The team has previously placed 16th out of 32 at an earlier world-level competition.
"Quite an achievement for a program that only started five years ago from watching YouTube videos," Sterling said.
Deputy Fire Chief Rob Garland spoke at the event. In follow-up interview, he noted the individual achievements of several members of the MXT, including firefighter Amanie McLaren, the first Canadian to complete the elite smoke diver training program — which carries a completion rate of roughly 30%.
Gold discussed his work with the MTX and other firefighters last year. "The best thing we can do is give back to our community," he told Collision Repair. "To be part of the community where many of us live, and to give back in whatever way we can. We show our appreciation through this training partnership — for us, that's all we need."
This was not the first time Markham has formally thanked Gold for the partnership. He previously received a certificate of appreciation from mayor Frank Scarpitti, who noted that while the sessions may look like simple training exercises, what happens at Standard's yard saves vital seconds on real scenes.
