Car Fire Safety Warning!

[RWC130 594]

Information provied by:

Chief Thomas J. Wutz

NYS Office of Fire Prevention and Control

On Sunday, November 21, 2004, the Windsor Locks, CT Fire Department

responded to a reported car fire. Upon arrival the fire was confined to

the engine compartment. During gaining access to the engine

compartment, one of my firefighters had just released the hood safety

latch when the hood shock strut exploded and fired into my firefighter,

striking him in his upper thigh and piercing completely through his leg

and bunker pants with the approximate 18 inch long strut. He is home

recuperating and we will not know how extensive his injury is for a

while yet.

I wish to make other departments mindful that these struts

are gas filled and are common on General Motor products, in particular

Buicks that I am aware of. In my 30 plus years on the fire department

this is the first time I had ever heard of one these gas filled struts

exploding like this. The fire and accident remain under investigation.

Please pass this along to other firefighters to be aware of the

potential for these shocks to fail when exposed to fire. I am just

grateful that this accident did not have a worse outcome.

Picture of the car in question is on our Department's website

at www.wlfd.com.

Thomas J. Wutz

Chief

Fire Services Bureau

NYS Office of Fire Prevention and Control

41 State St.

Albany, NY 12231-0001

Telephone: 518-474-6746

FAX : 518-474-3240

e-mail: twutz@dos.state.ny.us

[mfc2257 464]

Gas charged shocks are found in several places on cars. Departments that cover major interstates, commuter parkways, state roads etc where vehicle fires are common often have training or proceedures to prevent this from happening... Here is a little info for those who are new to the service or don't train for vehicle fires often.

Most common danger spot for gas charged shocks is bumpers on cars. There are usually two shocks on each end of the car and these help prevent structural damage in low speed bumps. However in a vehicle fire situation the gas will expand in the shock and eventually the assembly will fail. Approaching a vehicle fire from any angle front or rear is often dangerous as one or both shocks can explode sending the bumper into your knees with enough force to remove your legs. Cooling the bumper assemblys ASAP is a must and just because the fire is out doesn't mean the shocks wont explode later... It's happened 20 minutes later when the car is on a flatbed.

Other locations are suspension componants. The only time you really need to worry about this is if the vehicle has been in a serious enough MVA to remove one end of a shock from it's mounting point.

Hood, truck and hatch backs. With the case mentioned in CT the gas was probably expanding and putting pressure on the cheap pin or bolt holding the shock to the inner fender or hood. It probably sheered through and thats how it became a skewer for that poor FF's thigh.

Glove boxes, accesory compartments. These aren't as big a deal but remember they can still discharge and their mounting points are typically plastic as is the hardware in the interior of the vehicle thus making a failure possible.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

This shows us how we need to stay on top of our game and how we need to get the word out on things and changes more. A similiar case that didn't cause an injury was discussed on www.firefighterclosecalls.com on their secret list. Thanks to RWC for picking up the ball and posting this last night when I couldn't.