Motorsports Fire/Rescue

Every motorsports race track in this country is in somebodys fire district. Who provides protection for this special risk group? My orginization (Speedway Fire/Rescue), provides protection for about 9 different tracks, and other events. I would be happy to share views, SOP's, and training oppertunities to any or all interested parties.
E-mail me at: Sfrsc4@aol.com
Thanks, Roger Ellis, Capt. Speedway Fire/Rescue


[This message has been edited by Sfrsc4 (edited 01-26-99).]

Very interested in how you guys (& gals) do business. I am extremely interested in special rescue and auto extrication. Any chance of seeing how your teams operate and what specialized equipment you have come up with? What tracks does your team operate at? Any special tricks your teammates have innovated in the arena of high speed collisions?

Thats pretty cool. I'm a real big motorsports fiend... LOVE IT... I would be interested in what tracks you work at, any innovations or techniques you guys use, etc., etc. or really any other info. e-mail Resc10@AOL.com thanks.

Hello Roger. I am the chief of the Fire Rescue Team at Watkins Glen International Raceway. We have a large group of very dedicated and well trained volunteer Fire rescue people. We are the recipients of the Amkus Gold Star Award. We cover the track every day of the season. I would be happy to share ideas and information. I wonder if there is enough interest to get a regular forum going here?

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Dan Martelle

Hello, I'm a member of the Fire Crew on The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Fire Department.
Currently we cover 2 Major races, The Indy 500, and The Brickyard 400. We will have another major event in the near future, Formula 1 Racing. They are constructing the new track for Formula 1 on the grounds of the motorspeedway as I write this post. The track is located in the Town of Speedway. The town has its own paid fire department which is first due to the track in case thier needed. They are backed up by the Indianapolis Fire Department if needed. I'm glad to see there is a interest in motorsports emergencies. I'm looking foward to hearing how other racing facilities handle thier fire and ems protection. BE SAFE ALL...

[This message has been edited by LadderCo13 (edited 02-18-99).]

[This message has been edited by LadderCo13 (edited 02-18-99).]

I have gotten many replies to my original posting, but I know that their are a lot more active firefighters out there that work at racetracks. Don't be shy, say hi. The more interest we can generate in this special field, the better trained and informed we can be, and that can only help everyone involved. The upcomming season has started for some, and will soon be starting for the rest of us. Stay safe! Roger Ellis, Capt. Speedway Fire/Rescue

Hello from Bristol Tn., home of the World's Fastest Half-Mile track, the Bristol Motor Speedway.

Bristol hosts two race weeks a year.During these weeks the city of Bristol goes from 22000 to over 140000 people.Our fire dept has four stations and in July our shifts will go to 13 per shift. My station is first due to the speedway. During the race we have an engine assigned to the standpipe system at the grand stands.We do not work the pit fire crews or help man the track fire crews, The volunteer fire depts man these duties simply because we don't have the manpower to do this.We have 2 FF/Paramedics assigned to a brush unit to patrol the campgrounds outside the track. The Bristol race is really something to see...and most of the time is fun to work....be safe

We don't have any major racing facilities in our area. However, we do have a smaller dirt track facility that usually provides 4-5 hours of racing every Friday night. We don't take any apparatus to the track. The track pays two firemen to come out , and they provide us with a 4-wheel drive pick-up loaded down with different types and sizes of extinguishers. The track also pays two persons from EMS who man a reserve med unit at the racetrack.

You may want to contact the West Metro Fire District in Lakewood Colorado which has teh Bandimere Speedway which features dragsters and jet cars, which produce some unique challenges.

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Shadow

Here in Ireland we have one road course called Mondello Park near the capital Dublin. The safety services are provided by a volunteer team running a squad vehicle and crewed by 4 extrication/medical crew and a doctor. The vehicle carries two Holmatro mini pumps , comb-tool, cutter, power ram, cribbing, ropes, 10 ton porto-powers, extinguishers and hand tools.It also has airway management kit, intubation , IV , chest drain kits and semi - auto defib. All told they cover about 60 days a year at events plus 5 extrication days, CPR refresher, defib refreshers and one night a month. The EMT level crew also have US National Registry con-ed and recerts.

It's been a year since anyone has posted in this forum. Is there anything new to report for NASCAR, IRL, CART or FORMULA 1? Any new tools on the market to make life easier?

Wow, I can't believe that this posting lasted this long, I was sure it was collecting cybercobwebs in the cellar by now.
There has been no earth shattering new developments that I am aware of yet. Then again, our training is just about to take place, with who knows what kind of new information will be brought back from FDIC, or anywhere else. Stay tuned to our website at http://www.speedwayfire.8m.com for updates after our training Saturday March 11, 2000.
<A HREF="http://www.speedwayfire.8m.com">
</A>

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Roger Ellis, Capt. Speedway Fire/Rescue http://speedwayfire.8m.com
ICQ#: 61722026

[This message has been edited by Sfrsc4 (edited March 09, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Sfrsc4 (edited March 10, 2000).]

NFPA is currently gathering info. regarding the fire/rescue operations at speedway events. Probably the info. will put into a standard soon. Dan Jones, Chief of Chapel Hill, NC FD is a key person regarding this.

How many groups receive formal training for covering such events? What does the training consist of? Who performs it? Is EMS care included? What equipment have you folks rigged to make life easier?

What fire eqt. do you carry. Has anyone built a simulator (maybe LP fired) to practice with?

I had heard rumors that NFPA is working on some kind of standard for Motorsports operations. I do hope that they get a lot of background to base this on. A national standard will be difficult to practice in all places, but I do feel that something is necessary.
Besides open pan fires, I have not heard of any simulators for racecar fires. I have seen old racecar chassis used for extrication practice, and that is definately a great idea. The hard part of a propane simulator is that it is real difficult to duplicate an alcohol fire like that. You just have to use the real thing there.
On our rigs, we carry a great selection of hand portable extinguishers, and various hand tools. In addition, we have a large mounted unit in the back of each truck as well, for those rare "Big Ones". For rescue purposes, we use the "Power Hawk" rescue tool, since it requires no set up time, and takes little storage space.
For more information on our operations stop by and see us. <A HREF="http://www.speedwayfire.8m.com">
</A>

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Roger Ellis, Capt. Speedway Fire/Rescue http://speedwayfire.8m.com
ICQ#: 61722026

[This message has been edited by Sfrsc4 (edited March 10, 2000).]

Roger,

Please contact Chief Jones and provide some input on the NFPA standard. He is very approachable.

What type of training props have you developed for race car rescue? Some that would be handy are: seats, helmets, steering columns, roll cages, plus more. Let's hear it race fans, what would advance the field of race car rescue?

Hey Billy, how about a little help with Chief Dan's e-mail address if you could? Thanks.
Some of the other "props" we use for our trainings include but are not limited to: tow trucks, and their drivers, seat belts, full race cars, and there owners, custom built tools for special use (ie. can openers for roofs, hooked chains for hood pins, etc.). The more "safety" oriented parts of cars we can use for training, the better prepaired we will be for our job. Not to mention the dangerous end of the cars too, that is why we have the parts of cars displayed, and full cars, so see, or not to see where these parts belong. Pit Crew Chiefs, and mechanics who built the cars are a most valuable asset in both training evoloutions, and even at an incident. <A HREF="http://www.speedwayfire.8m.com">
</A>



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Roger Ellis, Capt. Speedway Fire/Rescue
http://speedwayfire.8m.com
ICQ#: 61722026

Sorry Roger, as I don't have his email address. Please try contacting Chapel Hill FD direct or searching on the web. Maybe a phone # or email address will show. I'll continue to look for contact info.

Do you by some chance have a training curriculum that you can share with us?

As embarassed as I am to say it, I don't have a written lesson plan to share with anybody. What I can do is share what took place in some of our trainings in the past.
Haveing as much equipment on hand as possible surly makes for great preparation. This would include fire extinguishers, race cars, junk cars (for cutting, and burning hands on excersizes) race car parts, in particular safety equipment. Seat restraints, steering wheels, and posts, cooling fans (for helmets), helmets to go along with that (that shows how radio wires, and cooling vents are hooked up). With the race car owner/driver/crew person, on the whole race car, they can point out the location of fuel and electrical shut offs. How the driver restraints are operated, including window nets, arm restraints, belts, etc. The more of the different classes of cars you work with, the more informed you can be before the knowledge is needed to be applied.
Last year, we broke into smaller groups and worked stations for practicing different things. Cordless saws was one station, fire extinguishers was another, extrication, cribbing, EMS, scene safety, size up, IC, rig orientation. Then after all went through all of the stations, we set up scenarios with the two junk cars. During that time, we lit them up and had "crews" go in like it was a real response. That was probably the best training we have had in years.
This year, we had less new personell, so we went through the stations as one big group, but accomplished just as much. This year we also left out the IC portion of the training, just to show the importance of it.
One nice thing Speedway Fire/Rescue takes for granted is probably the same as a lot of professional Departments. We have regular crews assigned to the same rigs most of the time. As a Captain, and rig driver, when I have a different member (Probie, or just a substitute) I run them around the rig to re-aquaint them with the tool stowage and inventory at the begining of the shift.
Like any good fire department, the ability to take knowledge and apply it to a givin situation, is invaluable. Teamwork must be stressed. The Incident Command system must be in place, and practiced. Communication is very important. But Most of all....SAFETY OF THE RESPONDER is never to be forgotten!

I have posted a brief summary of this years training on our website. Pictures will be on line soon.
<A HREF="www.speedwayfire.8m.com" > </A>

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Roger Ellis, Capt. Speedway Fire/Rescue http://speedwayfire.8m.com
ICQ#: 61722026

[This message has been edited by Sfrsc4 (edited March 12, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Sfrsc4 (edited March 12, 2000).]

Hey Roger,
I did locate a toll free # for the Chapel Hill Chamber of Commerce. Try calling them and asking for a website with email links or a local phne #. Call 888-968-2060.

Contact Chief Dan Jones @ CHFD.