California Apparatus Crash Investigation Reveals Firefighters Disabled Seatbelt Alarms

Firefighters aboard an Orange County Fire Authority engine that crashed into a pine tree in March were not wearing seatbelts, including a captain who crashed through the window.

When investigators got a closer look at the fire engine, they also found that the seat sensors and buzzer, which alerts the crew when someone is not buckled in, had been disconnected and covered with duct tape.

Only minor injuries were reported in the crash. The crew aboard Engine 61 in Buena Park had been rushing down Crescent Avenue on March 13 with lights and siren on when the vehicle hit the tree with enough force to cut down the top 15 feet of it and cause nearly $250,000 in damage to the truck.

Within a month, the OCFA found eight more engines and trucks rigged by firefighters in the same way – with disconnected sensors and covered alarms to muffle the sound, officials said.

Not wearing a seatbelt and altering equipment in that way is against the agency’s policy, and administrators found themselves having to remind emergency workers to buckle up.

“The incident is bad enough,” Battalion Chief Kelly Zimmerman said. “We should know better than to do these things.”

Details of the crash and the disabled seatbelt alerts came to light during a meeting of the OCFA board of directors, after county Supervisor Todd Spitzer asked for more details on a request to repair the fire engine. The staff report noted it would cost $241,114 to fix the fire engine, though it was covered by insurance except for a $3,000 deductible. The report also stated investigators had ruled out “mechanical deficiencies” as the cause.

Spitzer said he learned that several of the firefighters on board were not wearing seatbelts after requesting additional information and that the driver was found to have made an unsafe turn while traveling at an unsafe speed.

“I regret having asked for this document because it was so shocking,” Spitzer said. “Our own fire safety personnel had disconnected the safety mechanism best designed to protect them.”

Irvine Councilman Jeffrey Lalloway, who also serves on the OCFA’s 25-member board, said he learned of the system being “jerry-rigged” on the day of the board meeting.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “The disconcerting thing is, I learned it from Todd (Spitzer), who did his own investigation.”

Lalloway said details of the crash, or of the vehicles that were altered, were not shared with the board before the meeting.

“They just don’t tell us things,” he said of OCFA staff. “I’m shocked that we’re not kept up to speed on the activities and problems that occur at the fire authority,” he said.

Exactly when the sensors were rigged is not known, Zimmerman said.

Firefighters had complained in the past about the sensors in the trucks, he said. The alarm would sometimes go off when crews responded to an emergency in Code 3, he said, with the truck rushing down streets with lights and siren on. The speed and bumpiness of the drive apparently could activate the sensors, Zimmerman said.

The alarm would continue to buzz until the passenger opened the seatbelt and then clicked it again in the middle of the ride, he said.

“Sometimes you’d have to readjust in your seat,” he said. “It wasn’t intuitive enough.”

All trucks in the OCFA’s 71 stations use a similar system, Zimmerman said. “The majority of guys are wearing their seatbelts,” he added.

Eight engines were found to have been altered, Zimmerman said, and all of them were changed back within a month after the March crash, he said.

Administrators also sent out memos to staff reiterating the department’s policy that seatbelts must be worn and that company officers are responsible for their crews buckling up.

Assistant Chief Dave Thomas also sent out a memo instructing firefighters not to alter the vehicles, Zimmerman said.

To ensure that seats are not disconnected from the sensors again, maintenance crews have shrink-wrapped the wiring.

The issue has nevertheless caused concern among the OCFA board members.

“It’s a safety issue, and it’s a financial issue to the agency,” Spitzer said. “The last thing we can afford is to have a firefighter injured or killed.”