RESCUE REPORT

Car Crashes into House, Pins Couple Sleeping in Bed

By Tom Vines
Photos Courtesy Sparks Fire Department

It seems at some point, every department responds to a car-into-a-house call. But on Oct. 20, Sparks, Nev., responders faced a new and unexpected situation involving a car vs. a house—a challenging extrication resulting from a love triangle gone wrong.

At 0411 HRS, the Sparks Fire Department was notified for “a medical assist” as the result of a “vehicle in a house.” At 0414 HRS, the department dispatched Engine 11 and a battalion chief. A few minutes later, the response was upgraded to an extrication call, which added Truck 11 and another battalion chief.

When responders arrived at the north side of a single-family wood dwelling at 0419 HRS, it looked like a tornado had hit the corner of the house, with debris scattered all over the yard. Then as Sparks firefighters walked around the house, they came across an astounding sight: A Chevy Cobalt was 10 to 12 feet inside the structure, on top of a bed, and there was no one in the vehicle.
The police department then radioed that there were two victims under the car. A man and woman in their early- to mid-20s were trapped in their bed, under the car, where they had been sleeping when the car crashed into the house.

As it turned out, the crash into the house was no accident; it was the result of a dispute with all the qualities of a TV soap opera. According the Carson City Sheriff's Office, the driver had an argument with his married ex-girlfriend over her decision to stay with her husband. The ex-boyfriend allegedly snatched her car keys and drove away with the intent of crashing into the husband’s house. When he reached the neighborhood, he gained speed, aimed the car, hit a low embankment that launched the car approximately 6 feet off the ground and crashed the car into a house—the wrong house! (The husband actually lives down the street and wasn’t home at the time.) The driver had crashed into the house of perfect strangers who had no association whatsoever with his situation.

The crash woke neighbors who ran out of their houses and found the 29-year-old driver trying to flee the scene. They restrained him until law enforcement arrived. He was later booked into the Washoe County Jail on suspicion of drunken driving, two counts of battery with a deadly weapon, driving without a license, careless driving and possession of a stolen vehicle.

Before they could begin extrication, firefighters first had to spend15 minutes clearing away the 3-foot-tall pile of debris from both sides of the vehicle to gain access to the floor for a solid lifting surface. The vehicle had crashed into a corner of the house, through a window and a secondary wall, bringing with it furniture from the front room and bedroom, parts of the false ceiling, as well as particle board and framing from the secondary wall.

Meanwhile, rescuers quickly considered extrication strategies. Additional access was needed to reach the driver’s side, and they considered cutting away part of the bathroom wall. But with all the plumbing and other obstacles, this strategy might have taken 3 hours—time they did not have. So they used a chainsaw to remove part of the bathroom sidewall and removed an interior door.

For one possible extrication strategy, firefighters considered cutting the bed’s legs to lower the bed, but that would have only gained a few inches and might have destabilized the car. If the right front wheel of the vehicle slipped off the bed, it would crush the couple.

Firefighters weren’t sure how strong the plywood floor was, so they placed 4 x 4 cribbing under the driver’s side and then set two high-pressure air bags on the cribbing and under the vehicle rocker panel.

To lift the right side, rescuers used a hydraulic ram. Under it, they placed a steel door jam to spread the weight so it wouldn’t punch through the floor. To back up the ram, they placed a high-lift jack and nailed it into the floor so it wouldn’t kick out. During this time, paramedics continued to monitor the couple, who remained stable.

When everything was in place, firefighters began inflating the air bags on the left side to make contact with the vehicle. They then raised the left and right sides of the vehicle in a coordinated lift. By using the back of the car as a hinge point, they kept the car off the female’s head.

There was now enough room under the right side of the vehicle for rescuers to remove the female. By now, the male was more than ready to get out, and began pushing debris toward the same hole, saying that he was coming out the same way. He grasped a firefighter’s arm and was assisted out from under the front right of the vehicle.

At 0501 HRS, the extrication was complete.

Regional Emergency Medical Services (REMSA) transported the couple to Renown Medical Center in Reno, where physicians found them to have only a few minor burns, cuts and bruises. Both were treated and released within about 3 hours.

Sources: Sparks Fire Department Chief Carl Blincoe provided information for this report. Some additional details were taken from accounts of the incident in the Reno Gazette-Journal and KOLO-TV.

LESSONS LEARNED/LESSONS REINFORCED:
This call once again showed that responders must maintain their basic skills so they can improvise when met with the unexpected. It wasn’t possible to use only one type of skill or piece of equipment; several different types had to be employed.

Training is the key to a good outcome. If you train properly and use everyone’s knowledge, you can make better decisions concerning the actions that need to be taken. Command made the final decision on the methods to be used after discussing options with the crews involved. It may sound like a cliché, but it's true: Two heads are better than one.

Rescue Editor Tom Vines is the co-author of “High Angle Rescue Techniques” and “Confined Space and Structural Rope Rescue.” He operates a rope-rescue consulting group in Red Lodge, Mont.

Copyright © Elsevier Inc., a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
SUBSCRIBE to FIRERESCUE