1. Firefighters Support Foundation
Basic Vehicle Extrication

2. Basic Vehicle Extrication
About FSF
The Firefighters Support Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit organization whose primary mission is to develop, produce and distribute training programs to firefighters and first responders. All of our programs are distributed free of charge.
Basic Vehicle Extrication

3. Basic Vehicle Extrication
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Basic Vehicle Extrication

4. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Accompanying Video
This PowerPoint presentation accompanies the video presentation of the same title.
Basic Vehicle Extrication

5. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Presenter
Lt. Drew Livesey
10 years as a Professional Firefighter in the Portland-Metro area
17 years of experience in the fire service
Active team member in USAR as well as Vehicle and Heavy Machinery Instructor
Basic Vehicle Extrication

6. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Overview
Extrication Philosophy
Scene Approach and Control
Passive and Active Safety Systems
Safety System Mitigation
Extrication Considerations
Basic Vehicle Extrication

7. Extrication Philosophy
Safety First
(Turnouts, Gloves, Eye Pro, Charged Hose Line)
Patient Protection and Care
(Triage, # of patients, types of injuries)
Remove the car from the Patient!
Be aware of your surroundings, 360 degree view of the scenario
Access pt early, Don’t commit to pt until triage is done. After triage, hands on pt asap and address life threatening injuries as needed
Move the pt as little as possible. Me are attempting to remove the vehicle from around the pt and not just the pt from the vehicle. Protect the pt with a blanket and communicate extrication activity to pt.
Basic Vehicle Extrication

8. Extrication Philosophy
Less is More Approach - Time vs. Benefit
The average extrication takes 30 min.
What does a trauma entry patient need?.... surgery…
Remove the vehicle from the patient and not the patient from the vehicle (when appropriate….. it takes time)
Perform rapid extrication when appropriate (immediate danger to life)
Basic Vehicle Extrication

9. Scene Approach and Control
Call for resources early
Approach to scene
Stabilize
Scene
Vehicle
Patient
Resources: Any extrication activities require more units.
More than 1 c-spine pt requires more units.
Approach: What direction are you coming from, what direction others are coming from?
Where you need to place apparatus to keep everyone safe.
Stabilize: Vehicle placement
Chock or pop tires
Remove Keys, put in gear or park, set brake
Disable battery
Control fluids
Basic Vehicle Extrication

10. Scene Approach and Control
Plan ABC….
Assign one person as extrication Team Leader
Team Leader determine Plan A; communicate it to team; begin execution
Establish Plan B and C and ensure adequate resources are available to execute
Monitor progress of plan, and switch to new plan if progress is stalled
Basic Vehicle Extrication

11. Passive Safety Systems
Vehicle construction
Body configurations
Reinforcement
Exotic materials
Other
Basic Vehicle Extrication

12. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Body Configurations
Full frame “frame rail running front to back on each side”
Reliant upon no one component
Unibody “pass area floor pan with sub frame connectors”
Reliant upon all parts for integrity
Space frame “birdcage framework”
Reliant upon cage for integrity
Full frame cars are the old cars that we are used to. The frame is heavy steel, onto which the car body is attached. The strength of the vehicle comes from 2 main frame rails running underneath the body.
Unibody construction began to be the standard method of construction for passenger cars in the 1960’s. Heavy trucks and commercial vehicles still favor the full frame construction. Unibody construction utilizes a floor pan with sub frame reinforcement as the strength of the vehicle.
Space frame is a construction method that derives strength from the whole vehicle safety cage. The floor pan, sub frame, and cage all work together as a system to provide the design strength.
Basic Vehicle Extrication

13. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Reinforcement
Soft points and hard points
Hinge points
Door beams
Basic Vehicle Extrication

14. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Soft and Hard Points
“Soft” outer skin
“Hard” points attached to soft skin and reinforcements
“Hard” points need to be forced in order to gain door access
“Soft” materials tend to fail when stressed by a crash or by rescue tools
Basic Vehicle Extrication

15. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Hinge / Latch Points
Can be a very hard and reinforced point
Different hinge types
Cast
Stamped
Forged
Hardened Steel
Two Parts
Basic Vehicle Extrication

16. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Hinge / Latch Points
Latch points
‘Nader’ Pin - Safety Bolt
Wedge Design
Other ?
Basic Vehicle Extrication

17. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Door Beams
High strength steels
Micro-alloy Boron steel
Welded to lighter weight connectors
Bar is VERY difficult to cut !
Deadbolting door a possibility
Basic Vehicle Extrication

18. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Door Beams
Basic Vehicle Extrication

19. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Active Safety Systems
Airbags
Pretensioners
Rollover Protection
Basic Vehicle Extrication

20. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Airbags
Airbag functioning
Vehicle crash sensor senses an impact
Sensor information is received and interpreted by the ECU
Signal sent to the appropriate airbags to set off the igniter
Sodium azide burns at a rapid rate expelling nitrogen gas to inflate the airbag, or in the case of many side impact or curtain airbags a compressed gas cylinder is activated to fill the airbag
Safety points
Nitrogen gas used to inflate the airbags is an inert gas that presents no significant health hazard
The airbags are packaged with a powder similar to baby powder to keep it from sticking to itself during inflation. The powder often is mistaken for a puff of smoke, and it is non toxic.
Airbag ingnitors can be hot enough to occasionally start a fire. Always check them carefully before leaving the scene
Identify
Basic Vehicle Extrication

21. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Airbag Identifier
ID Plates
Shapes/ sizes
Can be “hidden”
Many locations/ placement
ID’ing should be done quickly as possible
ID plates are not necessarily in the location of the system
ID plates are for advertising and marketing, more than for location identification
No regulation is yet in place as to where these ID tags have to be, or if they have to be there at all
Airbag, Whips, SRS, IC (Inflatable Curtain)
Basic Vehicle Extrication

22. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Pretensioners
Part of the air bag system
Removes slack in the seat belt prior to occupant impact
Works in conjunction with air bag system to put occupant into the proper position before impact
Usually a pyrotechnic propellant
Peel and Peak.
Always look inside the vehicle and pull the plastics away from the body to determine if there are airbags or pretensioners
Basic Vehicle Extrication

23. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Pretensioners
Basic Vehicle Extrication

24. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Rollover Protection
Identified as ROPS – Rollover Protection System
Spring or Pyrotechnic operated
Basic Vehicle Extrication

25. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Rollover Protection
Currently there are a couple of designs on the market. These systems are primarily designed for use in convertible vehicles that do not have the structural roll protection of a hard top.
Roll over sensors sense an impending roll over and activate the system
Basic Vehicle Extrication

26. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Rollover Protection
Roll over bars in the back work in conjunction with the boron steel reinforced “a” pillars to create a survivable space for the occupants in the event of a roll over accident
Basic Vehicle Extrication

27. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Peel and Peak
Prior to cutting post in any vehicle you need to peel and peak
Pull all interior plastics and safety system cylinders used to activate side and overhead airbag systems
Pull plastics covering seat belt pretensioners
After the plastics have been peeled mark the exterior of the car so cutting crews can easily identify where cuts need to be made.
Cuts should be made in front of, or behind, the cylinders. NEVER on the cylinders.
Basic Vehicle Extrication

28. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Peel and Peak
Basic Vehicle Extrication

29. Safety System Mitigation
Identify and Recognize Hazards
Kill the power – Cut or remove battery cables
Cut seatbelts when needed
Peel and Peak behind interior
Basic Vehicle Extrication

30. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Wrap-up
Scene safety
Vehicle type and safety systems
Have a plan A, B, and C
New vehicles are changing
High strength/exotic materials
Safety systems
Alternative fuel/hybrid vehicles
Size-up the scene, call for resources early.
Identify make, model and badges (Hybrid or Electric).
Note hazards caused by any accident or potential hazards to you and your crew.
Have an extrication team leader and create a plan A,B, and C. Don’t get tunnel vision on one plan.
Basic Vehicle Extrication

31. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Wrap-up
Newer cars create new challenges to extrication adding to scene time
More hazards to identify with new vehicle
Do not mindlessly cut and spread a vehicle newer, smarter cars require newer, smarter approaches
Basic Vehicle Extrication

32. Basic Vehicle Extrication
Acknowledgements
Fire Rescue Equipment NW, LLC
Newberg, OR
Holmatro rescue equipment
Thanks to Chris Mills
BLACKHAWK!
Small Pry tool
Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue
Basic Vehicle Extrication