Safety Warning Concerning newer Ford Trucks

[5pts384]

Received the following e-mail warning re NEWER FORD TRUCKS:

"At 6:45 Wednesday morning, the Conroe Fire Department responded
to a reported pick-up truck on fire in a driveway. The fire was at a
city Councilman's residence. On arrival, E-2 observed a late model
Ford pick-up truck on fire and the fire had already extended to the
garage door and overhang. A full structure fire response was called.
The fire was quickly contained and extinguished with minimal
damage, much to the Councilman's delight.
However, the new Ford trucks have an aluminum engine hood. The
gas filled lift struts are attached to the hood. The fire completely
melted the hood away, leaving nothing to restrain the ends of the
struts. During the fire attack, the two gas-filled lift struts that help lift the hood under normal conditions, took off "like an arrow,"
according to the Battalion Chief. Battalion Chief Bowen said, "One of
the hood lift rods landed under the tailboard of E-2 which was 25
yards away. We do not know where the other one landed, but it is a
large caliber projectile. We have yet to locate the other strut."

This quote was from the Fire Prevention Officer of a Madison WI Fire Dept. If anyone would like to contact him further re this incident, please email me (chiefmyronpierce@hotmail.com) requesting his forwarding info {addr, ph#, fax#, eMail}.

[nmfire]

Damn. Thats good to know!

[fftrainer]

Not just a Ford thing... my jeep is the also has gas struts to hold the hood open.

Gas Struts are never a good thing in a fire and they can be multiple places. Obviously the hood, but almost all of your liftgate SUVs, minivans, etc and if you think attached to an aluminum hood is bad, put them attached to the glass in the rear of an suv (take a look at Ron Moore's article pertaining to struts in U of E)

Another one to be careful of that is becoming popular is the hard tonneue (sp?) cover people are putting over their pick-up beds. If you ever have a chance, take a look at one. There is one heck of a set of struts in there to hold it open...and they are only attached to fiberglass.

Stay Safe!

[Dave1105]

You guys haven't heard of this before??? These things can be damn dangerous given the right conditions..... We once had a working car fire (Mazda 121, little hatch back type car) where the struts that open the boot went off like a rocket..... One of the struts flew inbetween the face and the visor of one of our FF's and embedded itself 2 - 3 inches into the bitumen....

[N2DFire]

To Recap & Add to what has been mentioned.
These as struts can be found under hood's, trunk's, hatch backs (Cars & SUV's), Tonneau Covers and tons of other places.

You should also be aware of Energy Absorbing Bumpers which can also "fail" in a similar manner when exposed to car fires.

Some newer SIPS / airbag systems are starting to used stored pressure canisters. Although I have not heard anything directly on this matter, I would assume they would have the potential to fail violently when exposed to heat/fire the same as any other pressurized vessel would.

My overall reaction to this thread is similar to Dave1105 - I'm truly surprised some folks haven't already heard about this but I'm glad it's at least coming to light now.

You should also be wary of these devices during extrication evolutions. Be sure not to cut through them and make sure that anything you cut (Cutting the rear post of a Hatchback is an excellent example) will not be released violently when cut.

Thanks to 5pts384 for bringing this back to our attention. It never hurts to remind ourselves of some hazards we tend to forget about.

[HFRH28]

Another thing usually overlooked when it comes to struts is Pickup truck toolboxes. Most diamond deck toolboxes have struts to hold them open, unless you're like me and take them off. But thanks for the info, may save one person serious injury or death.

[CaptainMikey]

Someone last year at a firehouse expo said something about cutting a 2inch cut on both sides of the hood in the vicinty of the struts, I dont know how good it would work or if it would be dangerous, just posting a crazy idea.