rmoore
02-15-2004, 11:30 AM
When I traveled to Dayton, Ohio the week after the airbag deployment incident, I never realized how historic this single incident was to be among the fire and rescue services of the world. To have an actual deployment was one thing. To have firefighters injured was yet another. And then to top it all off, to have the local TV news crew there rolling tape as the incident occurred was remarkable.
I spent three days working with the department to fully document the incident. I worked with District Chief Beach, the IC at that crash and listened to his lessons learned from that morning. he described the sickening feeling of having firefighters down.
I listened to Rescue Capt Johnson, the one who told the crew to quit forcing the hood when they were trying to get to the battery. There were over 50 pieces of cribbing in Rescue One sitting at the scene that were not used for stabilization. If they had stabilized, then they would have been able to access the battery. If they had gotten to the battery, they would have shut down the power. If they had shut down the power, 22 minutes later whan Tom Trimbach crushed the brain, there would not have been any 'juice' to deploy the bags. The Dayton Airbag Incident would have never occurred.
I spent time talking to and working with Tom Trimbach, the firefighter operating the Amkus spreader who crushed the airbag brain. He saw the brain. He saw the red cables and the metal box but didn't know or realize what it actually was. he decided to place the arm of the spreader against the metal box in his attempt to pry the right side of the driver's seat upward. We've all learned a lot since then.
And Jim Kohler, the firefighter who was struck by the driver's frontal airbag added valuable insight into just exactly what he and Tom did and why the incident happened in the first place. His leaning over the 'deployment zone' of the loaded driver's airbag was what made him a victim in an instant.
With this thread, I am posting some never-before-seen images that I shot during my investigation in Dayton that week. The vehicle you will see is the real one involved. The airbag brain is the actual one that fired off the two frontal airbags. These images are the real deal, not something 'simulated' or recreated. These are images from my personal photo collection that I am sharing with you through our Message Forum. Please use them in your training programs in whatever way you chose that will further the message about rescuer safety concerns with loaded airbag systems.
I spent three days working with the department to fully document the incident. I worked with District Chief Beach, the IC at that crash and listened to his lessons learned from that morning. he described the sickening feeling of having firefighters down.
I listened to Rescue Capt Johnson, the one who told the crew to quit forcing the hood when they were trying to get to the battery. There were over 50 pieces of cribbing in Rescue One sitting at the scene that were not used for stabilization. If they had stabilized, then they would have been able to access the battery. If they had gotten to the battery, they would have shut down the power. If they had shut down the power, 22 minutes later whan Tom Trimbach crushed the brain, there would not have been any 'juice' to deploy the bags. The Dayton Airbag Incident would have never occurred.
I spent time talking to and working with Tom Trimbach, the firefighter operating the Amkus spreader who crushed the airbag brain. He saw the brain. He saw the red cables and the metal box but didn't know or realize what it actually was. he decided to place the arm of the spreader against the metal box in his attempt to pry the right side of the driver's seat upward. We've all learned a lot since then.
And Jim Kohler, the firefighter who was struck by the driver's frontal airbag added valuable insight into just exactly what he and Tom did and why the incident happened in the first place. His leaning over the 'deployment zone' of the loaded driver's airbag was what made him a victim in an instant.
With this thread, I am posting some never-before-seen images that I shot during my investigation in Dayton that week. The vehicle you will see is the real one involved. The airbag brain is the actual one that fired off the two frontal airbags. These images are the real deal, not something 'simulated' or recreated. These are images from my personal photo collection that I am sharing with you through our Message Forum. Please use them in your training programs in whatever way you chose that will further the message about rescuer safety concerns with loaded airbag systems.