By Craig Aberbach
Every day, most fire compa- nies complete some kind of preplans of target hazards in their jurisdictions. The preplans may be formal (reported and documented) or informal (driving around the first-due district to see which streets are closed or which buildings are being renovated or under construction). Preplanning for responses to motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) is equally important. This involves learning about modern vehicle construction, new technologies in automobile glass, air bags and curtains, seat belt pretensioners, and hybrid vehicles.
Why do we need preplans? Every firefighter knows the importance of conducting preplans of old and new buildings. Preplanning will tell us the type of building construction, exits, layout, hazards in the occupancy, etc. How many fire departments have ever preplanned a vehicle? A vehicle preplan can be as simple as going to a new or used car dealership and looking at vehicles on the lot. Reading the options list on a vehicle’s windows will tell you the safety features or obstacles that will be present at an accident involving this type of car.
 (1) Firefighters examine vehicle construction, design, and options at a dealership in their jurisdiction. (Photos by author.) |
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 (2) The list of options attached to a new vehicle’s window gives preplanning firefighters some indication of what they will face at an accident involving the vehicle. |
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In photo 2, among the car options listed are front dual-stage air bags, front and rear side air bags, emergency tensioners, front knee bolsters, fully boxed steel frame, front and rear crumple zones, and reinforced body cage. The occupant compartment is reinforced for passenger protection, and the rest of the vehicle is designed to fail.
At Cape Coral (FL) Fire Rescue, we have almost five times as many vehicle accident runs as we do fire runs. Construction materials and innovations found in modern vehicles may make them safer for occupants, but working in and around the vehicles is more hazardous for emergency responders. New vehicle body and structure materials do not respond as those in the older cars on which we normally train.
PREPLAN PERSONNEL
How many units does you department send to an MVA? Most departments I know send only one unit (rescue) with two personnel. Some departments send one engine company with three or four personnel. That sounds promising and functional for a minor accident, but what happens at a larger incident?
With four individuals at an accident scene, the officer will take command and also might act as safety officer. The two firefighters will begin patient care, and the driver/engineer might work on any hazards present. Does everyone on your apparatus know their assigned role when they arrive on the scene of an MVA?
The first step in preplanning is the personnel issue. First, ask yourself, are there enough fire service personnel responding to the scene? Let’s break down some of the tasks that need to be done at MVAs (not all tasks need to be assigned on all incidents):
- Incident command.
- Safety officer.
- Vehicle stabilization.
- Patient stabilization (two personnel per patient—one to stabilize and one to treat and package).
- Hazard stabilization (disconnect batteries, mop up fuel and oil leaks).
- Forcible entry: tool operators for hy-draulic (cutters, spreaders, rams), electrical (reciprocating saw), and pneumatic (air chisel, impact wrench, etc.) tools.
- Protection: firefighter staffing for charged hoseline, extinguisher.
Second, ask yourself, are your responders properly trained in extrication, and do they know how to prioritize the actions they need to take on the scene? All fire service members should abide by the “Six Ps”: Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance. What priority is the accident victim? The first priority is yourself and other responders—we have to stabilize the scene and make it safe for us to work around. The second is bystanders—we need to clear the hot zone of any nonessential individuals who are not properly protected or trained to be in a potentially dangerous area who might become injured. The third priority is the victim.
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 (4) It is important to obtain a 360-degree view of the accident scene. |
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 (6, 7) Firefighters must have a stable vehicle to work on and around. |
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Even though this air bag has been deployed and is no longer a threat, there still may be other air bags in the vehicle that have not deployed, posing a potential danger to firefighters working to extricate victims. Preplan the locations of air bags in various car models.
How often do we train for actual accidents? We might go to the junkyard and cut up cars, but do we really plan or train to take action as soon as we arrive on the scene and step off the truck? Who knows their assignments? Do you have to tell your crew members what they should do on arrival? Who will survey the scene; grab medical equipment, cribbing, and a charged hoseline; and disconnect the battery?
Work these assignments into your vehicle extrication preplan. Next time you train on extrication, develop an action plan. Each responder should have a good idea of what he needs to do at each type of vehicle incident. What do you do when you first arrive on the scene of an accident? Does your department have SOPs/SOGs dealing with vehicle accidents? Knowing that making the scene safe for the responders is the first task, we begin our ABCs.
A—Assess the scene. In the initial assessment, the first-arriving officer should walk around each vehicle involved in the accident and, finally, around the entire scene.
B—Balance and stabilize the vehicles/Begin access to patients. Secure vehicles for responders to work around and to protect injured occupants from unexpected movements.
C—Create openings in vehicles. Use natural openings first, such as doors and windows.
D—Door removal.
E—Enlarge other openings. Cut posts, and remove the roof.
F—Follow-up and reassess what is happening.
When we assess the scene, there are several more considerations:
1. Air bags—have they already been deployed, or are they still loaded?
2. Are any animals involved in the incident? Think about a vehicle rollover where a dog is in the vehicle with its owner. If you reach in the auto to hold traction to the driver’s head and neck, how will the dog react?
3. Cargo—what is in the vehicles that might be compromised? Are there any packages that might have broken open that could have an adverse reaction?
4. Utility problems—have you determined if any power lines or other utilities are involved (gas, water lines, etc.)?
5. Vehicle hazards—do you have leaking fuel or leaking battery acid?
VEHICLE CONSTRUCTION AND DESIGN
Prior to 1995, most vehicles used full metal frame construction. Today, vehicles may have full frame, partial frame, or unibody construction (Figures 1 and 2). Partial frame construction is similar to full frame: Structural mem-bers are welded or bolted to the frame rails and floor pan. With the advent of unibody construction and the new cab forward designs, we are seeing more aerodynamic vehicles. Windshields are more swept back, and the overall vehicles have a lower profile.
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For vehicles to keep their strength and integrity in the body, manufacturers have had to increase the strength of the structural parts. One material now incorporated into new vehicles is high-strength low-alloy steel (HSLA). This material is a great benefit to the vehicle occupants, as it can be found in crash-sensitive areas such as passenger compartments; A-, B-, and C-posts; roof rails; etc. Older rescue tools might not be able to cut through this material, and the material’s increased strength means that it is harder to spread or push. Micro alloy metals are also incorporated into new vehicle construction. They can be found in side impact bars and dashboard reinforcements.
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One of the big safety issues with this type of material is that hy-draulic cutters can’t cut through it. When we apply cutting force to this material (if the tools can generate enough force), the metal compresses and actually fractures. If both sides of the location where the force is applied are not secured, the stored energy can create flying shrapnel when released.
In some offset frontal collisions, the side impact protection/collision bar can break loose from its weld and act like a dead bolt into the A- or B-post. In photo 9, you can clearly see how the side impact collision bar protected the occupants inside. Take a closer look at the end of the impact/collision beam and look how far it sticks out past the door (photo 10). This actually lodged into the B- post and acted like a dead bolt.
The initial responders on this call were doing what about 99 percent of all responders would do—go for the Nader bolt side of the door. All they were doing on the initial attempt to force the door was tear lightweight body panel metal. If the crew could have seen that the collision beam was acting like a dead bolt, they could have opened the door sooner and more safely by going to the hinge side first.
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In addition, vehicle bodies are composed of many different materials such as metals (steel, aluminum, etc.), glass, and composites (plastics, fiberglass, and carbon fiber). We have to adjust our tactics to deal with these new body materials. New materials will spring back into their original position once they are moved (photos 11 and 12).
Another interesting car design feature to be aware of is that new vehicles are designed to fail. Cars are designed to crumple, and engines and transmissions are designed to drop from the bottom of most automobiles. This happens to prevent intrusion into the passenger compartment. Vehicles such as Mercedes incorporate high-strength metals into the engine compartments to protect from such intrusion (photo 13).
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Other preplanning information that can help us accomplish our assignments on accident scenes can be something as simple as knowing which way the hood opens on a vehicle (photo 14). It is also important to learn the location and number of hood locks on current models. Several higher-end cars have as many as three different hood locks (photo 15).
One challenge is finding the battery. Until recently, only a few automobile manufacturers placed the 12-volt battery in a location other than under the hood. Today, the batteries can be in numerous locations around the vehicle—some are impossible to get to if the vehicle is occupied! Common battery locations are under the hood, in the trunk, under the back seat, and in the wheel wells (some new Chryslers, which also have jumper ports mounted in the engine compartment that lead to the battery—the only obstacle is getting to it).
In the 2002 Audi A4, the battery is in the center part of the rear of the engine under a plastic cover. If this vehicle were involved in a frontal impact, it might be impossible to get to the battery, especially at night if you’re not familiar with the location and are working in poor lighting.
All Jaguars have the battery in the right side of the trunk area with the exception of the X Type, which is located in the left side front. This is interesting to note, since the vehicles look similar.
Some vehicles have batteries located under the rear seat. Say that you have to use hydraulic tools to get to occupants in the rear seat in an accident, the air bags have not deployed, and the order to deenergize the electrical system (to remove power to the air bags/supplemental restraint systems, or SRS) is given. You open the hood, only to find there is no battery there—it is under the rear seat (which has to be removed to get to the battery). The problem is that two injured passengers are sitting there.
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One of the greatest threats most firefighters overlook is that of the pressurized piston-lifting cylinders. These cylinders are placed around vehicles to assist with lifting or holding open hoods, trunks, hatchbacks, and some seats (photo 16). When these cylinders are in a compressed state, there is stored potential energy. When you open the hood, trunk, and hatchback, they have resistance and move or extend in a controlled manner. When the cylinders are accidentally cut or the parts of the auto to which they are attached are cut, the energy is released in an uncontrollable manner and can seriously injure anyone in the immediate area. These cylinders are filled with oil that, when exposed to heat, will expand; the compressed rods can violently expel themselves and seriously injure people standing in their path (photo 17).
In unibody construction, many front and rear glass windshields now are considered structural members of the vehicle and are actually bonded to the vehicle for increased strength. Several manufacturers offer impact-resistant glass around the vehicle for occupant protection. Remember, what is built into the vehicle to make it safer for the occupant will make it harder for responders to make initial access to victims if doors are locked and windows are up on our arrival. The new material used in some vehicles is almost impossible to penetrate without causing possible harm to the occupants inside.
Air bags and other supplemental restraint systems are or should be known hazards. They can be located anywhere inside the passenger compartment including the dashboard, seats, doors, headliners, or seat belt attachment buckles or on the seat belts themselves. These systems are controlled by a central processor typically mounted somewhere in the passenger compartment. When a vehicle has a frontal or side impact severe enough to trigger the sensors in the area involved, this sets a series of events into motion.
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First, the central processor will determine if that part of the vehicle is occupied. If it is, the air bags and seat belt pretensioners will activate simultaneously. Seat belt pretensioners are a stored energy or pyrotechnic charge in the seat belt system designed to pull the occupant back into the seat to help soften the impact with the frontal or side air bag (photos 18 and 19). We must be careful not to cut, push, or pull on the charges or sensors. Some of these devices also have air bag sensors (photo 20). There is no hazard in cutting or moving an SRS once it has been fully deployed.
There is no standard location for any air bag or seat belt restraint system. Air bags (besides front passenger) are sold as options on some models of vehicles. Volvo has placed on the windshield of its cars a label identifying that front and side air bag systems are present. There is no requirement to have labels on the outside of vehicles that identify where these systems are located. Always assume that all vehicles have these systems all over the front and rear.
Hybrid vehicles are gaining in popularity every year. A hybrid vehicle is primarily a gasoline-powered engine supplemented by an electric motor. Two manufacturers currently sell hybrids. Honda has the Insight and the Civic, and Toyota has the Prius. The greatest hazard to responders is that these vehicles are very deceiving. When we ap-proach them, we might think that the vehicles have been turned off. In actuality, once the vehicles have a full charge on their batteries, the gasoline engine will shut off if the vehicles are stopped (such as when in an accident or when the brake is applied). Once the brake is released, the vehicles will move under electric power much like a golf cart and are just as quiet. The electric motor is powered by a nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) battery ranging from 144 volts in the Hondas to about 500 volts in the Toyota. Treat these like regular vehicles with a few modifications:
1. Chock the vehicle wheels before walking around it (as soon as you approach it).
2. Remove the ignition key to cut power to the gasoline and electric motors.
3. Never cut, pull, or push on high-voltage electric cable, readily identifiable with an orange material (photo 21).
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As vehicle technology changes, the challenges that firefighters face will increase. We have to stay continually trained and educated in the hazards presented by this new technology to stay safe.
Craig Aberbach, an 18-year veteran of the fire service, is captain of special operations for Cape Coral (FL) Fire Rescue. He has a bachelor’s degree in management. Aberbach has been an instructor for the “Extrication in the 21st Century” class and the Hands-On Training classes “School Bus Extrication” and “Vehicle Extrication” at the Fire Department Instructors Conference.
