Presents

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Presents
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Vehicle Fires And New
Technology
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Lee Junkins

• Midsouth Rescue Technologies
• Ft. Worth, Tx.
• Welcome to
• Vehicle Fires
• And
• New Technology

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Objectives

1. Recognizing the need for a change in our
   training.
2. We are going to learn to recognize what we are
   facing on scene.
3. Learn the set rules of vehicle firefighting.
4. Learn the principles of a new aggressive approach
   to a burning car.

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Goals of this class

• To establish an awareness of what we are
  facing.
• To establish a need for change in our
  training.
• To instill the need for skilled training in
  facing the new technology of today.
• To establish a set of unbreakable rules of
  safety.
• To develop a set of aggressive attacks that
• 1. are general approaches to any car no matter
  what they may or may not be equipped with.
• 2. can be easily taught and learned.
• 3. will give us the most protection possible
• 4. are simple enough to become routine habits
  of attack, just like our old training is. (We all
  do it the same way).
• 5. every department, no matter how small would
  have the equipment to initiate.

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Sec. 1

• Recognizing the need for a change in our
  training.

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Like everything in the Fire Service

• Vehicle Firefighting
• Has Become A
• Whole New World

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HYBRID VEHICLES
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Ni-MH battery pack fire
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Hydrogen Fuel Cells
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All-Electric Vehicles

• SATURN EV1

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Dual Fuel Vehicles
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Liquefied Petroleum Gas LPGCompressed
Natural Gas CNG
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Alternative Fuels

• Methanol and Ethanol
• CAUTION A fire fueled by methanol
• or ethanol burns bright blue and can be
  difficult to see on a clear day.

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Dangerous?- Extremely!

• But
• Have you fought one?
• Have you seen one?
• Does one burn in your town every day?

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We are going to get into these later.

• Though they sound more dangerous, we face many
  things everyday that are more dangerous than all
  of these.
• And most of us dont even think about them.

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Before The Late 70s

• We worried about gas tanks blowing.
• We worried about tires blowing.
• And
• That was about the only things we had to watch
  for.

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Our Training
Stay away from the tires.
Approach it cooling the gas tank area.
Put out the fire
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Late 70s

• In an effort to absorb the impact of low speed
  crashes, manufactures began to install nitrogen
  gas shocks on their front and rear bumpers.
• After several injuries, the word soon got out,
  in the fire service.
• These Things Blow-up !!

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Our Training Changed
We now approach the car at a 45 degree
angle Cooling the gas tank area, and as we get
closer, Cool the bumper area.
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But Even Today Some Firefighters Do Not
Understand The Dangers

• As you will see in this video.
• Remember the person filming this is not a
  firefighter. Listen real close to what he is
  saying, when the second explosion
  takes place. Then watch where the man is
  standing, compared to the tire.
• Car fire bumper video

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(No Transcript)
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What did you hear?

• One tire blew and it was not that loud !
• It wasnt the gas tank
• Where was the man standing ?
• The nozzle man was in front of the tire.
• The man that was hit was in front of the car.
• So what was it ?
• Looking at the last views, you can see the bumper
  missing, and look close, it is laying where the
  man fell.

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Any one still not understand ?Try this !
Why 45 Degrees?
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But Then came the 80s

• How many ever think about the Air Bags, in a
  car fire ?
• Will they deploy in a fire ?
• Lets See
• Explosion 1 Video

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Do you want to stick your head in the window ?

• But for years we taught you to knock the fire
  down, then get in there, and in a circular
  motion, put it out.
• Is it time for another change in training
  ?
• Lets take another look
• Explosion 2 video

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(No Transcript)
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Did you hear what he said ?

• The air bag, and its housing, blew out through
  the roof.
• We think about air bags deploying in an
  extrication, but we are dealing with whole
  housings blowing out in fires.

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How hot are these fires ?300-400-700 Degrees ?

• The propellant that inflates an air bag is
  Sodium Azide, ( rocket fuel ).
• In the air bag assembly there is an igniter,
  that sets off a gas canister, that heats the
  sodium azide to its ignition point.
• This ignition point is preset at 350 degrees.
• Does a car fire get that hot ?

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Normally !!
The air bag will Deploy, and the Nylon bag will
melt !
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This is a normal deployment.
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And even this can be dangerous to the firefighter
Piece of air bag 47 ft behind truck This was in
the mop up stage, no visible flame at time of
deployment
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How many were taught this in vehicle fire
training ?

• Air bags came out in the 70s
• Every car made has had one since the early
  80s.
• Is it time to change our training Yet
  ?