Breaking down the B-pillar

[rmoore]

A Posting from Ron Moore, Forum Moderator

Teams work on removing both doors and the B-pillar of a four-door car typically by working on the front door, then attacking the rear door then removing the B-pillar.

Anybody out there getting good at opening the front door at the hinges, the rear door at the latch, and then breaking the whole entire sidewall of the car down like a wing?

Please post what works best for you as you attack the b-pillar and work to get it to fold outward.

I have a real-world case study to share with all of you after we get some feedback.

Rmoore@firehouse.com

[Perry2085]

I wouldn't say I'm good at it but one time we were called to a neighboring community for a MVA and because of were the victim was we had to peel the side down to move the victim with minimal movement due to her injuries. I opened the front door via the hinges with my spreaders and proceded to the rear door and took it off at the latch. We then cut the B post and peeled the side down. We were then able to remove the victim without hardly moving her. This was a great way to gain access and have a bigger area to work in.

Perry 2085

[Bullbat9]

I was shown a technique to open the side of a 4-door by moving front to back. Starting at the front door, the hinges are broken by cutting or spreading. Moving to the B-post, the top of the post is cut completely through and a wedge is cut near the base, similar to making a cut for a third-door conversion on a 2-door. The spreader is then used at a 45 degree angle to pry out the b-post, again similar to making a 3rd-door conversion. Once the b-post is out, move to the rear door latch and use either the cutters or spreaders to open it. The whole side of the car comes off in one big piece. I have done this in training with a group of new tool operators, and it works great, but have not yet seen or done it for an actual extrication.

[Ed D]

We have been doing it for a while and I can think of accidents 5 in the last year a crew has folded to entire side down. Crushing the fender or doing a vertical crush on the door is the easiest way we have found to make access to the front hinges with a spreader or comination tool. A recip saw is the best for the top of the B-post and if the bottom needs a releaf cut. rear door safety bolt in the normal manor, and a prybar into the B-post to lever it to the ground. Works well for us.

[John Prentice]

Try working back to front. Take the rear door at the bolt, open the door and cut the B post at the top with the o cutter and take as much at the bottom of the B post as you can with the O cutter. Then finish the bottom of the B post with an air chisel. When this is done the whole side will swing out on the front door hinges. Your cut's will need to be above and below the seat belt supports. A 8" notch cut at the bottom of the doors where they meet the B post will help with accessing the B post. The chisel man can be cutting these while the spreder operator is working the rear door bolt.

[cra539]

I gave this some thought. Would making a cut at the top of the B post first and then doing the front door hinges and then the rear door nader work better? I should try this. I'm thinking that when you spread the front hinges, the moving door would start to move the b post out. Just a thought.

[rmoore]

I have been studying and working the bugs out of the total sidewall removal evolution for a four door vehicle. As I've traveled across the country doing seminars, this evolution is one of the featured assignments.

Being analytical as I am ( my wife calls it anal), I've kept track of start and finish times during standard time trials. This info represents a wide variety of cars, worked on by extrication crews from Seattle to Baltimore, Michigan to Florida with a wide variety of tools and techniques.

TOTAL SIDEWALL EVOLUTION Time Trial
Requirements:
4-door car,
sitting on level surface,
stabilization completed

Tools and personnel:
All tools are pre-connected,
staging area minimum 15 feet from vehicle,
personnel full TOG standing by in stagin area
power plants running, units all hooked up

Rules: Sequence of tasks and individual techniques are at discretion of team

Team allowed to pre-inspect the vehicle and pre-plan their action prior to start of evaluation.

Assignment:

• patient protection/cover

• glass removal, tempered glass-
all side & rear

• airbag ID scanning,

• seatbelt disconnect/cutting,

• pre-tensioner identification,

• front door (or SIPS door opening)

• rear door opening

• total sidewall removal
( front door, rear door and B-pillar)

Some crews leave the doors attached to the B-pillar, others don't. Some attack from the rear, hinging the "double wide" doors and B-pillar on the front hinges. Others attack the front at the hinge, the rear at the latch, and lay the sidewall down.

Here's some elapsed times from my most recent seminars.

2:30
4:30
2:55
2:10
2:00
2:20
4:50
1:15
2:40
3:40
4:30
13:04
4:40
5:53
6:50
3:55

Test your own agency at this evolution and report back. Eventually, I'll have a pretty good average nationwide for what it takes to do total sidewall removal on a 4-door.

[ElmerA]

Our Service does our own in house training and we always try different things to see what works. We tried this and some how the name "Noahs Ark" came out. Anyhow, we have a large hyd. cutter that we can nail the hinges, post and rear nader, each one bite at a time. After the first time we tried, we found that a relief cut at the bottom with the air chisel made for easier bending with little to no effect on the remaining metal. Fortunately, we have never had to put this to actual use, but because of the size and weight of metal removal, you have really got to train on this.

It is a cumbersome exercise and if you are removing the roof, it is probalby easier to ignore this move and remove everything in smaller, more managable pieces.

[RS401]

In my last extrication class that I taught, one of the evolutions was to do a total side removal of a four door car. We started at the rear door nader bolt side and popped the door. After popping the door opening it as far as you can. We cut the the top of the B post first and then the bottom. When cutting the bottom of the B post we made three cuts, two of which were a pie cut and the third cut was threw the rest of the post. The front door was attacked at the hinge side with our 32b hurst jaws of life. We placed at tip on the top of the bottom hinge and the other tip under the top hinge. We let the tool do its work and it broke both hinges at the same time. Then three Fire Fighters took the entire side off and out of the way. This has worked several times in my classes and have got to use it twice on calls. It seemed to work for us ok. The evolution took about 2 and half minutes. I hope this might answer some of your concerns.

[Aff]

Where I'm at in Minnesota, we also call that a Noah's Arc. It can also be done inverted with a vehicle on its roof.(don't drop the flap!) It works great with roof removal/flap for interior access and seat removal. Another suggestion for making a purchase point at the front hinges is a fender pinch at the front wheel well, helps keep the tool out of the interior compartment. 6-point stablization should be used with roof removal on a uni-body to prevent frame failure or movement. Relief cuts are made on either side of the B-post. Also a bar or haligan slid into the B-post can give you more leverage to pry. I just finished Advanced Auto Extrication at state fire school taught by a championship extrication team, and we where able to complete a Noah's Arc and roof removal evolution in 12 minutes. This included size-up, stablization, pre-extricatiom patient control, tool staging/use, packaging, boarding, and removal.