The Social Network & Community JUST for Firefighters
Snow Plow Motor Vehicle Accidents.
As we get closer to that time again and old man winter is upon us we all need to sharpen up on what we may face on and off the roads and be aware of these big tonka-toys that run 24 hr's a day. Up North these trucks are very well known and down South we see more sand trucks. As everyone knows preventive maintenance on our rescue tools should be a priority and not forget our trucks and if your run chains or some type of insta chains. Public Awareness cant say that enough!!!!
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Smoke Eater on
-
Thank you so much Chief!!! We are doing winter ops in our November training. Now I have something else to add to it, if you don't mind? Keep these up!!! They are great!!!
-
Permalink Reply by CHIEF NORMAN on
-
Your welcome 703, just remember we are never to old to learn...Hats off to ya brother and good luck on your winter ops....We can owe this segment to Chief Mike France on here...
-
-
-
-
Something to add to the Chief france's comment when he mentioned the 100 gallons of fuel that could rupture and spill out. For you haz-mat guys and gals out there does that raise a red flag???? It sure does for me...Can anyone tell everyone the law we live by on spills of this size and larger and what action must be taken??? Or how much of a spill does it take for you to call out your Haz-mat crew and you get EPA involved???
-
Permalink Reply by Doug on
-
In my almost eleven years of service, even though I live within the Lake Erie Snow Machine, I have never been on an mva like this, though I hear about them all the time on my scanner. My borough is only 1.5 square miles, and only has one state road running through it, which is covered by the big DOT trucks. The rest of the borough itself is covered by 4 trucks, 3 being just regular sized dump trucks with a plow attached, the 4th being a very large DOT type truck.
Does anyone with more experience with these types of MVAs have any tips?
-
Permalink Reply by ashfire on
-
Our county doesn't always have regular drivers behind the wheels of snow equipment. They enlist office workers, bus drivers and anyone that works for the county to drive the fleet of pickup trucks into community neighborhoods. They may get drivers training to operate on the streets but they are not regular public works employees. Most of the heavier trucks are driven by regular drivers for the main roads.
During a snow event they will use anyone for anything from running food to districts to running parts to outpost repair shops. One time a new van was used to run food to a district and the drivers didn't know where they were going and hit ice and a enbankment and turned it over. Took a few months to get it repaired.
They do tear up some equipment but to add to it most of the equipment is 20 years or less because of money for replacments and supplies and every year its a job to rebuild the fleet and a major cost because of lack of prevention to stop the rust and breakage.
-
Permalink Reply by Andrew Dalgarno on
-
If the guy isn't already out, this will be tough. Don't just start to crawl out on the ice. Use ladders to spread your weight. Everybody that goes onto the ice must have a safety line. Hopefully, you can get the door open. Top of the cab is visible and the door goes right to the top - most have doors on both left and right sides.
It's a fairly safe bet that this plow is already on the bottom. The only air space for buoyancy is the cab and it is already pretty low. The fact that the front is higher tells me the front wheels are on "solid" ground. (Unlike cars which can float for a bit, these things have almost no buoyancy compared to their weight.) It's pretty much useless to try and use your winch for stabilization, since the plow will weigh more than you do. (And I'm pretty sure none of us wants to explain to the chief why our brand new quarter-million dollar pumper is under water!)
Once you get a group to the cab, you can try to see if the guy still has an air pocket and communicate with him, but regardless, you are either going to have to open a door or bust out a window. Hopefully, he can then get out, or else someone is going to have to try and go in after him. (You remembered the wet-suit right??)
If the water is colder, he has a better chance of survival. Paramedics better be ready the second you get him out and to the shore.
Andrew
-
-
You're surprised by 100 gallons??? Most highway rigs carry up to 300 gallons.
If the spill has already soaked into the ground, we notify the cleanup crew and they deal with it. If the fuel is still running out of the tank, then we would plug it as best we can or contain it (It's "just" diesel fuel) and call in the HAZMAT crew for further support.
Andrew
-
Permalink Reply by Derek R. on
-
Awesome post Chief Norman. Very informative and with eye candy to boot.
We, up here, have mostly the large plows with the back end full of salt. On heavy snow days or for extra cleanup, they will use the graders. During the winter, we have a lot of snow plow activity. The guys driving these rigs start training before the snow even thinks of falling so, I guess, to get them used to the big ol' plows on the front of them. I can only speak for my area here, but I can't recall any snowplow/driver accidents. Usually it's plaow vs. parked car and the occasional mailbox. DOT is pretty big on safety, BUT...I repeat..BUT...it takes awareness on both sides.
Haven't seen too many graders or plows in a lake or pond yet. Would be nice to actually use our ice-rescue training though.
Again, thanks for the heads up. and providing great info.
-
Permalink Reply by Reg Mathis on
-
No thanks! I'll stay in Georgia!
TCSS,
Reg
-
-
Didn't you guys get a rather large snow storm down there last Winter? Haha
-
-
Nah, too hot for me!
You can always add layers at -40º
Andrew
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Next ›
© 2024 Created by Firefighter Nation WebChief.
Powered by
