By Ken Robinson
FireRescue1 Staff
WALKER COUNTY, Ga. — Fire departments should consider rollover protection for crew areas when upgrading or buying new fire apparatus, NIOSH investigators say.
Investigators are making the recommendation after a Georgia firefighter was killed in a December 31, 2008, apparatus crash that left him pinned upside down with the roof collapsed around his head.
Walker County firefighter Jarrett Little was killed in the accident when he lost control of the apparatus and crashed it into a utility pole before overturning it into a ditch, according to a firefighter fatality report released Monday.
Investigators say firefighter safety can be improved with strengthened cabs and roll protection systems that sense when a vehicle is in a side roll, activating air bag systems and automatic seat belt pretensioners.
“In this incident, the driver had adjusted the suspension seat elevation to the upper most travel point, and it is likely that there was minimal clearance between the top of his head and the ceiling of the cab,” the report said.
“The driver’s seat lacked a mechanism to automatically retract the seat down, and the cab roof was not strong enough to prevent the intrusion into the driver’s compartment.”
The report found an officer injured in the crash had not been wearing a seat belt at the time.
As a result, the report is calling for transportation officials to consider modifying or removing exemptions allowing firefighters to ride apparatus without wearing seat belts.
“Federal and state departments of transportation should consider modifying or removing the exemptions for firefighters based on the large number of firefighter deaths associated with non use of seatbelts, and to be more consistent with best practices,” the report says.
Police investigators determined the fire truck was traveling too quickly for road conditions as it passed through an intersection with pavement grade changes, according to the report.
The report also highlights inexperience and lack of training as factors in the crash, as the crew on board was newly formed, working together for the first time in an unfamiliar station and with an unfamiliar apparatus.
“Difficult road conditions in the expected routes of travel should be experienced by the driver at slower speeds in a nonemergency so he/she will be familiar with the handling characteristics of the apparatus before being allowed to drive in an emergency-response mode,” the report said.