We always approach a vehicle fire from the sides. What do you do when the fire is contained inside a closed trunk or engine compartment? Forcing the hood would put a firefighter in front of the bumper. You could use the K12 to cut on opening in the hood. But here is some food for thought. Have the nozzle man (or woman) angle the attack line water stream at the ground directly underneath the fire and deflect the water up into the compartment. Then, if the fire is still relatively small that take a halligan tool and pry out the headlight lens and housing. This may not work on every vehicle, but it should at least provide a hole that you can get more water into a compartment fire. Flood the compartment through this access point and nobody has to leave the side of the vehicle to fight the fire.
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A great article by Randy Schmitz of Calgary Fire Department about boron and other high strength steel used in the automotive industry. He has a good list of cars and SUVs that have boron and some other great information. Here’s a little, but check the link for the whole article.
The strength of this boron metal that is in the late-model Volvo XC90 has a tensile strength of approximately 195,800 psi.Subaru has added eight layers of medium heavy steel in its B-pillars, along with 3/4-inch (19-millimetre) steel round bars welded inside the core of the pillar to increase strength. Also, one middle layer of this pillar is exotic metal to further reinforce the pillar.
A few other vehicles with these types of similar reinforcements in
their safety cages include:
- Porsche Cayenne 2002-2007
- Audi Q7 2006-2007
- Volkswagen Touareg 2002-2007
- Ford–Five Hundred 2005-2007
- Land Rover Discovery 2004-2007
- Infiniti QX56 2004-2007
- Ford Free Style 2005-2007
The high end vehicles tend get a the safety stuff early on, then those features trickle down to the average Joe’s car. Land Rover’s Range Rover Sport has boron steel in the A and B pillars. Keep checking back, I will start a list of known vehicles with boron in the pillars or roof structure.
This is a list of common steel types used in the automotive industry. Notice the overlap of steels in the different classes?
Standard Steels
- Commercial steel (CS)
- Drawing steel (DS)
- Deep drawing steel (DDS)
- Interstitial-free (IF)
Mild High-Strength Steels
- Bake hardenable (BH)
- Isotropic (IS)
- Carbon-Manganese (CMn)
- High-strength low alloy (HSLA)
- Dual Phase (DP) – Complex phase (CP)
- Transformation induced plasticity (TRIP)
- Martensitic (MART)
Ultra High-Strength Steels
- Dual Phase (DP) – Complex phase (CP)
- Transformation induced plasticity (TRIP)
- Martensitic (MART)
- UHSS alloyed with boron (BOR)
What are the most common places in vehicles to find Advanced High-Strength Steels (AHSS)? Rocker panels, B-pillars, A-pillars, roof rails and side-impact beams in the doors.
Extrication training is what my fire department is currently doing on our weekly drills. The first extrication drill focused on basic hand tools and then we moved up to air, hydraulic, corded, and battery operated tools. Cribbing was also covered, lift an inch, crib an inch. Also, never forget what the first step of gaining entry to a vehicle that was involved in a PI. The door handle, if it is locked and the window is down or shattered than press the unlock button. Once the door or roof has been opened, always check to see of the seat can be moved before rolling the dash. This all goes back to the “try before you pry” school of thinking.
Another topic that I will write a great deal more on is the use of boron steel in vehicles. Everything from reinforcing roof structures, a and b pillars, and side impact door beams can have boron steel sandwiched with traditional steel. The question is, can your department’s hydraulic cutters or combi-tools cut through boron? Few can.
