Nothing is done until power company secures power. while waiting on power find out if public works or a private company has a heavy truck with a boom , and a heavy tow truck to lower or stabalize. Pt sol you can not make contact if possibly energized and I am not sending my guys (even though I would probally have to lock them in the truck ) around that car while hanging from power lines. Hurricanes have weakened so many poles and lines they pop with a strong wind, I am going to be looking for that thing to let loose if I pull up on this. The damage to the compartment does not look like the pt would be pinned. If we were able to stabalize in position we could go through rear window. Biggest is the power, Secound is making the extraction as safe for our guys and the pt as possible.
After the power company denergized the line a tow truck or crane is a great idea to make sure that the car will not snap the lines. Stabilizing might have to be done with rescue jacks or what ever other support system is available (ie. 4x4 posts or what ever can be found if you don't carry the manufactured stuff). It would be interseting to be pt care on that! Backing a flat bed or utility up to the vehicle might give you a good platform to work off of.
To be the devil's advocate, how will rescue jacks or similar be used? The bounce of the car on the wires wil compromise and cause them to move wouldn't it?
Agree with the flatbed being a good working platform....
You could use the jacks to stablise the car from tipping over or moving laterally. If the advertisements for them are correct you could put alittle lift on them and pick the car up enough to take the bounce out of the wires. Put one on each side,then one on the trunk and one one at the rear axle. Time critical? Air hammer or sawsall to minimise movement and take the roof off. You could also use folding ladders to access the patient.
Good point- not having used the jacks you talk about, I do recall another disucssion on this forum with photos of a car on its roof. You're probably right in terms of what they could do in this situation....
Looking at the lines the vehicle is hanging on appear to be telephone/TV cable. But as most have said, let the power company do their thing and let us know for sure. I'm not sure rescue jacks would do much good. However, look at the attaching point for the lines at the pole. There appears to be what we refer to as a "deadman", or a "guy wire" which appears to transverse the undercarriage to an anchor in the ground. This will decrease a lot of movement. As far as extrication, a platform would work well in this situation. If the victim just cannot get out, the platform could be placed along the drivers door, open the door an assist the victim onto the platform. If there were more severe injuries which might require immobilization, the roof could be flapped from the platform, and a rapid extraction onto a backboard on the floor of the platform.
BTW, if I'm not mistaken, this picture was taken in Houston, TX a couple of years ago in 68's district. I believe the driver crawled out and disappeared prior to Fire and PD arrival.