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What to Do When You Can't Cut the Battery?
Just a quick question....
Last weekend we ran a two car MVC, both SUV's, both V1 and V2 were rolled over, on their roofs, in a ditch with pt's still inside. We arrived on scene, cribbed both vehicles and started cutting. Our engine arrived six minutes later (due to a manpower issue),and pulled a 1 1/2 line. In anycase, I was holding C-Spine on the pt. in V1 and as other firefighters were cutting this car around me, I started to think that no one cut the power to this car. There was clearly no way of getting to the battery with the way this car was.
So... What do you do when you cant cut/remove the battery cables? Is there another simple way to cut all power to a car?
Last weekend we ran a two car MVC, both SUV's, both V1 and V2 were rolled over, on their roofs, in a ditch with pt's still inside. We arrived on scene, cribbed both vehicles and started cutting. Our engine arrived six minutes later (due to a manpower issue),and pulled a 1 1/2 line. In anycase, I was holding C-Spine on the pt. in V1 and as other firefighters were cutting this car around me, I started to think that no one cut the power to this car. There was clearly no way of getting to the battery with the way this car was.
So... What do you do when you cant cut/remove the battery cables? Is there another simple way to cut all power to a car?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Smoke Eater on
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Hey Dustin, unfortunately I don't think there is anything else to do except be very careful and be very observant to smells of gasoline or any other hazards. Could anyone try to bend the hood open with a halligan or pry bar close to the battery to get to it? Sometimes these rollovers can be a huge pain in the ass.
Stay safe brother!!!
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Permalink Reply by Dustin J. Millis on
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There was definatly no openin the hood on this wreck. lol
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Permalink Reply by Mac Conant on
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Maybe just wait till the pats are out, as quickly and as safely as possible, once out, try to lift the vehicles front end in some mannor, i.e airbags, hydro lift, ect, and then get the hood open. If not..that is quite the tough question you got there.
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Permalink Reply by Eric Johnson on
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A lot of the newer cars it doesnt matter if you cut the cables or not they have compacitors in them that will still hold a charge for up to 20 min. So you should treat all scenes as though it is a live battery and be careful
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Permalink Reply by Oldman on
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Although not usually recommended, if you must secure the battery, usually cutting the positive cable at the starter motor will accomplish the same thing. Again, if you can get to it.
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Permalink Reply by Derek R. on
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Oldman has a point. If the cars are upside down, the starter cable should be accessible
Any such thing out there that can be clamped/secured over the steering wheel so if the wheel bag goes off it will be contained? That bag seems to be the most concerned with.
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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Lengthy upside down extrications with the fact that we must put a rescuer or multiple rescuers inside, should be red flag for the person in charge of the incident to protect his or her personnel. With that said, power can be cut if that becomes a priority. The use of the speaders in the reverse closing mode while positioned on the front inner fender wheel well and under the hood to crush the fender will afford some side visability to see where the battery is and hopefully cut the power. As old man said, the power cable leading to the starter motor is another great source of disconnect. Sawzalls are wonderfull for cutting open the front corners of the fender/hood to access the battery. Other options are the steering wheel air bag covers (holmatro) and then if absolutely no access to disconnect, remaining absolutely clear of the airbag hazard zones at all times.
Stabilization of the vehicle should include things that we need to done to PROTECT US, therefore the fact that a vehicle is upside down doesn't make the battery access 100% impossible, but more often it makes the rescuers say well thats too much work and lets go to work on the real extrication stuff and we'll hope we don't set off something that is still powered.
I make my firefighters practice this on upside down auto-X training all the time and we will not make it a priority unless someone trains us that it is an important part of firefighter safety.
Last time we did this training, we also had to do a dash roll with a driver pinned under the dash while the vehicle was upside down...
Eric: I posted a thread a while back about capacitor times and I showed an airbag activation with no battery in the car for six months...
Bill
FETC
www.fetcservices.com
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Permalink Reply by Paul Montpetit on
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No, not really...in that case you just be very, very careful not to trigger the airbags and you remove all the trim in areas you plan on cutting and visualize that no airbag(either dash or side curtain) wires or pre-tensioner (seat belt) is in the area....Also...1 1/2 is nice but you should also have either a co2 or dry chem can there also in case of flammable liquids or electrical fire....Paul
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Permalink Reply by Jim Holm on
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Just curious, how cutting the cable at the starter will denergize the main wiring harness?
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also I forgot to mention it...but, what is the PRIMARY reason for cutting or disconnecting the battery in the first place...?? It is fire hazard...we try and remove a source of ignition...and also in doing so minimize the airbag risk and seat belt pre-tensioners....Stay safe...there are a million things out there waiting to bite you in the ass.....Paul
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FETC...Holmatro does make the airbag covers...BUT, in the US our steering wheels have more give than the Europeean counterparts and thus they don't seem to work very well on US vehicles...Paul
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Derek....Cutting the starter cable will not disable the battery or the total electrical system...and FETC is correct...some airbags systems do have a capaciter that will hold a charge for a period of time...some of the high end vehicles...Paul
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