It was shift change on 9/12/09 and a call came in for a car fire. It was quickly upgraded to a possible structure fire as reports indicated the vehicle was against a building. Our engine arrived first on scene to find a 1987 Volvo 780 backed up against a brick commercial building. The building was not involved but the engine compartment was fully engulfed. We stopped short of the vehicle, about 40 feet away and at an angle. While giving my size up on the radio, I heard a loud bang. I initially thought it was a tire exploding, but heard my driver utter some choice words. I looked over and saw a half-dollar sized hole in the windshield right near the driver’s face. It turns out that there were several pieces of glass in the driver’s eye, resulting in a scratched cornea (the driver was fully recovered by next shift). Initially we thought that only the metal bumper had struck the engine causing all of the damage. The assistant chief saw the debris flying through the air as he pulled on to the scene and there was a good-sized impact mark on the front of the vehicle below the hole in the windshield. A large section of bumper was found in the middle of the road next to the engine. Days later, we realized that a small piece of the bumper piston had actually flown through the windshield and ended up behind the officers airpack in the front seat. Timing played into our favor because had this been thirty seconds later, the debris that impacted the engine could easily have hit the crew stretching the hoseline to extinguish the fire.

LESSONS LEARNED:

We learn in our training that in order to safely approach a vehicle fire, we should approach at forty five degree angles to the front and rear of the vehicle. We know that we should be mindful of overhead wires and attempt to park uphill from a burning vehicle. After the incident of September 12th we realized that we also should have positioned the apparatus farther away from the incident. Parking farther away encourages crews to use a longer hoseline and start applying water from an appropriate angle, yet farther away from potential projectiles. Our incident also reinforced the idea of never getting in front of or behind a vehicle fire until it is properly cooled. While part of one bumper piston ended up in our engine, the other bumper piston rocketed forward and was found in the grass approximately seventy feet from the burned vehicle. There was a large gouge in the pavement where it initially hit, before landing in the grass. This also could have been a close call if the crew or bystanders were in front of the burning vehicle. The crew did not believe we were taking a car-fire call for granted. Our mistake was in assuming we were safe inside the apparatus.