Car fire troubles....

[BLSboy]

Ahem, uh, Mister Chief Woods, Sir?

i work for Indian HarboUr Beach Fire Dept

[mikeyboy411]

All of the above tips are great....... goin' through the headlights is also an option. Just use a strikin' tool and the space made is available to be used to get water into the engine compartment........

[phillipmc]

Im not saying this is the best way but if you can get the round end of a pry bar into the loop in the latch and give it a good twist to the side alot of times it will twist the loop and free the hatch ( keep in mind all hoods are not like this) i know it works on trunks well its just getting to that loop that may give a little trouble

but thats only after knocking down the fire first with the methods said by the other posters

Iv found that forcing a hinge or latch to move in a way it wasn't designed to move will most of the time release it or break it.

[Bones42]

We've used a combi tool to pry up the hood up at the hinge end. Once the hood pops off the hinges, it can be moved where you need.

Watched a guy with the K saw cut down too deep into the top of the radiator. Got him a good covering of hot radiator coolant.

[DeputyChiefGonzo]

An addendum to opening hoods....

You have to know which way they open!

Corvettes and Saabs are hinged at the front and open forwards. Some cars, such as Ferraris, Lamborghinis, the Saleen S7, Porsches and other exotic cars that those of us on a firefighters salary cannot afford have mid and rear mounted engines.

I once passed a car fire on the highway where the firefighters (a small town's paid on call FD) were wailing the crap out the front end of a Saab with a set of irons to get to the engine compartment...

I did do the right thing though.. I called 911 on the cell (State P{olice answer cell phone 911's) to have me connected to the town's dispatch to let them know to try the "other end of the hood"!

[Res343cue]

I did do the right thing though.. I called 911 on the cell (State P{olice answer cell phone 911's) to have me connected to the town's dispatch to let them know to try the "other end of the hood"!

Ouch. That has to sting...

"Dispatch to Engine ###, be advised, passerby says you need to try to open it the other way".

[pfd4life]

An addendum to opening hoods....

You have to know which way they open!

Corvettes and Saabs are hinged at the front and open forwards. Some cars, such as Ferraris, Lamborghinis, the Saleen S7, Porsches and other exotic cars that those of us on a firefighters salary cannot afford have mid and rear mounted engines.

Except for the 575M, the 550M, and the 612 Scagletti, those have front mounted engines with reverse opening hoods, ala corvette. Then again on the 612, and the improved 575M, the hoods are carbon fiber, so little worry about is still being in place upon arrival, and with the F50, or F40 the bodywork was entirely carbon fiber, with perspex covering the engine if you had the transparent hood.

85%+ of the Bodywork on the S7 is also carbon fiber, with more to come on the next generation, and lots of the stuff on the inside too, but watch for the fuel lines that run down the rockers from the fuel tank in the front end. Don't use the halligan trick here either, you won't get anywhere.

Porsches are easy one just has to remember to NOT strike the spike end of the halligan to the corners of the "trunk" unless you want a facefull of fuel, but that's specific to the 911, Carrerra GT and the Cayman. Now the 944 and 928 had a normal layout with reverse opening hoods, and if you ever get a car fire on a 928, they had known electrical problems.. The Cayenne is also a normal layout vehicle.

Lamborghinis, well..the older ones will have burned to a crisp, especially the Countach, known for constant fuel leaks. The new ones are built still in italy, but with German precision, as Lambo is now owned by the VAG, so any problems will be almost non existant.

Sorry gonz, just filling in the blanks. Oh and BTW, you can afford a lightly used Porsche Boxster on a FF's salary.

[LeeJunkins]

With the dangers we are facing on today's cars, Do not even try to open the hood. Most all of today's cars have gas felled struts, in fire they explode shooting the shaft out like arrows, take a look at some of the actual events I have listed on my gas struts page on the web site.
Approach the hood from the rear by the door, slide the adz end of a halogen bar in the crack between the hood and the fender and pry it up about 2", put a good stream of water through the opening and push it back down the steam conversion will almost always put the fire out, and no one is in the path of the strut.

http://www.midsouthrescue.org

Then do the same thing on both sides cooling the struts and then worry about opening the hood.
You can reach the cable through this same hole on the drivers side, there is plenty of slack to pull it out to you, cut the cable, and pull the inter cable with pliers

[LeeJunkins]

Hello Lee.

Thanks for your reply.

If your looking for a good story on struts I have one for ya! First hand.

September 1999. I was working at the volunteer station along with one other
firefighter. We were in the midst of having an addition built for our new
police-fire complexe. It was lunchtime & the roofers were just finishing up
before lunch when one of them noticed that a 1997 pontiac transport was now
on fire in the parking lot adjacent to the fire station. We pulled the
pumper truck out. I was fully dressed & had just stretched a handline to
about 35 feet of the vehicle, approaching at a 90 degree angle from the
driver side because the car was parallel to the street. As I bent down to
put my face mask on I heard a loud POP & felt something strike me in the
neck area. I was knocked unconscious & woke up across the street with a
police officer attending to me telling me "don’t move Mike". I him talking
to his partner saying I had something jammed in my neck & he had that "oh
****" look on his face. I was rushed to the nearest trauma center where X
Rays & scans were done on my neck area. The Dr. Told me I was a walking
miracle. My jugular was narrowly missed by 2mm (1/8").
What occurred is the rear struts for the rear door of the 1997 Pontiac
Transport ruptured & exploded & was propelled thru the sidewall of the truck
& struck me in the neck.
I have pictures of the strut & my face after the accident. I will forward
them to you once I did them out of their box.

[pfd4life]

With the dangers we are facing on today's cars, Do not even try to open the hood. Most all of today's cars have gas filled struts, in fire they explode shooting the shaft out like arrows, take a look at some of the actual events I have listed on my gas struts page on the web site.
Approach the hood from the rear by the door, slide the adz end of a halligan bar in the crack between the hood and the fender and pry it up about 2", put a good stream of water through the opening and push it back down the steam conversion will almost always put the fire out, and no one is in the path of the strut.

http://www.midsouthrescue.org

Using the halligan, to pry up the corner is by far the best method, aside from a piercing nozzle, that I have found. The K12 works well, but only if you have them on the engine or rescue that responds, and I don't know many departments that send a truck to a car fire, unless by special call.