Firefighting & Rescue Social / Professional Network
Arizona Firefighters Work 2-Hour Extrication on Truck Driver
LARRY TUNFORSS
Bullhead City Fire Department
Early Tuesday morning at 2:16 a.m., Bullhead City Fire Department responded to a reported Semi truck collision at mile post ten on Hwy 68.
Rescue 31 arrived to find a semi truck tractor and trailer which had collided with the rear of another semi truck tractor and trailer. Both were west bound on Hwy 68.
Impact was significant and intrusion into the driver’s compartment by heavy I-beams came within inches of the driver. Fire crews worked tirelessly for two hours and ten minutes to extricate the driver from his cab. Crews used every tool available from air bags, cribbing, jacks, jaws of life, and even a heavy duty commercial tow truck from Kingman to lift the I-beam load and unpin the trapped but conscious driver.
A CareFlight helicopter was called to the scene and its crew assisted fire medics in stabilizing the driver during the extrication. Once extricated, the driver was flown to a trauma center in Las Vegas where his condition was unknown at press time. Fortunately, the loads on the involved trailers were produce and heavy steel I-beams, and did not pose a hazardous threat.
DPS and ADOT shut down Hwy 68 during the incident for the safety of crews working to free the driver and then dislodge the two tractor trailers. Hwy 68 was then reopened.
Bullhead City Fire Department
Early Tuesday morning at 2:16 a.m., Bullhead City Fire Department responded to a reported Semi truck collision at mile post ten on Hwy 68.
Impact was significant and intrusion into the driver’s compartment by heavy I-beams came within inches of the driver. Fire crews worked tirelessly for two hours and ten minutes to extricate the driver from his cab. Crews used every tool available from air bags, cribbing, jacks, jaws of life, and even a heavy duty commercial tow truck from Kingman to lift the I-beam load and unpin the trapped but conscious driver.
A CareFlight helicopter was called to the scene and its crew assisted fire medics in stabilizing the driver during the extrication. Once extricated, the driver was flown to a trauma center in Las Vegas where his condition was unknown at press time. Fortunately, the loads on the involved trailers were produce and heavy steel I-beams, and did not pose a hazardous threat.
DPS and ADOT shut down Hwy 68 during the incident for the safety of crews working to free the driver and then dislodge the two tractor trailers. Hwy 68 was then reopened.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John Rulli Jr. on -
Thats one you dont see everyday! Good job boys/gals!
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Permalink Reply by Peter Putnam on -
outstanding job people
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Permalink Reply by Shareef Abdu Nur on -
Great Job by all who were involved! All to often events like this and departments like this go un noticed. This took discipline, training, and execution. Again, GREAT JOB!
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on -
Just curious - did anyone think about cutting away the sheet metal around the I-beam, then simply driving the truck carrying the I-beam away from the patient? If the situation permitted it, that could have saved minutes or even hours on the extrication time.
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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on -
Good point. I think many forget the options of moving cars, trucks, etc.
I've winched cars off trees to quicke nthe extrication. Have even considered with a live casulty in the car. It's an option.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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Luke, I've only done this three times in my career, and as a "last resort" all three times, but I have intentionally moved vehicles containing trapped patients in order to complete the extrication.
Two were cars wrapped "horseshoe style" around a power pole and a tree, respectively, and the third was a car in a tractor-trailer underride. We applied c-collars and did the best manual immobilization we could, and used slow, short pulls with a rescue vehicle-mounted winch to move the car with the entrapment.
As long as you keep the winch pull under control, it's doable. Once again, it's a last resort.
In the photo above, I'd get a second heavy rescue to the scene and have them work on cutting away the vehicle parts impinging on the beam end while Rescue Company 1 continues working the problem right around the driver. If Rescue 2 gets the beam end free, that thing is being driven away...in a controlled manner, of course.
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Permalink Reply by Frederick Georges on
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Please be advised that the nose of that vehicle is made mostly of fiberglass and the rest is aluminium alloy, unless you have a plasma cutter there will be no advantage or time saved trying to cut it away, plus unless the batteries are disconnected you run the risk of shorting the wiring harness that would unleash 12,000 amps and surely start the unit ablaze.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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Frederick,
I'm well aware of how long-nose over-the-road tractors are made. My point is that you can cut the fiberglass away with an air chisel or sawzall and see if the beam is impinged on anything substantial on the red tractor. If not, you can just a) relief cut the A post, B) make a horizontal relief cut in the top of the tractor's driver-side B post, C) use a hydraulic ram or high-lift jack to raise the roof clear, and D) maybe pull the lead truck up out of the way. If there is substantial wedging of the red tractor under the trailer, this might not work...but it's worth the 2 minutes it would take to expose the entire beam and see what - if anything is holding it.
I would not use a plasma cutter in this situation - the risk of fire from the plasma cutter is much greater than the risk of shorting out the trucks' wiring harness.
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Okay Ben and know if I was one of your team I would certainly have your back with the unit CAFS line or portable chemical foam can as I can, with certainty say, I am NOT familiar with the construction of each and every model and make of todays truck tractors as they vary widely.
This is my charge as engineer, to observe and if I see a potential for a problem I report it to the incident commander with recommendations and await approval to act. My first concern is the safety of the team and the proper use and operation of the apparatus assigned to me, the victims....secondary. We came to help not die.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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Fredrick,
I agree that we came to help, not die, but we need to work on a variety of solutions when we run unusual calls. The combustibles on the tractor (fuels, lubricants, plastic, rubber, paint, etc) are going to be very vulnerable to ignition from the plasma cutter.
I"m a big fan of having a lot of tools in the toolbox. A well-equipped heavy rescue will have a plasma cutter, but will also have a lot of other tools suitable for working the occasional call like this one.
Even having a charged hoseline with foam isn't a guarantee that a plasma cutter won't start a fire in a place that the foam stream won't reach in a wreck this mangled up.
With a patient this heavily entrapped, we need to keep ignition sources away.
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Understood
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