On a bright Saturday afternoon, November 8, 2014, about a dozen members of the Morrison Fire Department (MFD) gathered for a unique training, at 8:00 a.m. They planned to rip apart three vehicles in an “Extrication Rescue Simulation.” The result of one of those systematic deconstruction efforts is shown at left.
As with many events in Morrison, IL, this would be a collaborative enterprise, assisted by supportive local business owners.
Quality Ready Mix Concrete Company, 14849 Lyndon Road, Morrison, offered their site for the training.
By the luck of the draw, MFD’s application was selected to receive a 2012, four-door Mitsubishi from the Bloomington, IL, plant specifically for this purpose. The vehicle was “never on the ground,” Chief Dave Benters stated. “It was never plated or titled. [These factory] demos are used to find defects in the [assembly] line.” He added the mangled Mitsubishi will be scrapped.
Assistant Fire Chief Joe Bielema added the trio of cars will be scrapped at “no salvage value. [We must] destroy the important parts, so [they are] rendered ‘no good.'”
Rick Venhuizen, owner of Rick’s Auto Body, 311 E. Lincolnway, Morrison, supplied a truck to pick up the Bloomington vehicle. MFD’s Brian Johnson drove 140 miles to retrieve it. After the training, firefighter Keith Wiersema hauled away the Mitsubishi remains on Venhuizen’s flatbed trailer, as shown below.
Hunter Body Shop, 15885 Lincoln Road, Morrison, contributed two cars in tandem–one upside down on another. Owner Bruce Hunter, Jr., also removed them after the training.
As the first task, Bielema stated the men had “to crib” the stacked autos, so the upper car would not slide off. “We [also] used ‘come-alongs’ [cabled ratchet straps] and the electric winch on an engine, to stabilize them together.”
Next, a series of airbags required delicate handling. “You have to know where, and where not, to cut, due to the ignitors.” Hydraulic rescue tools, ie., “jaws of life,” cut the roof and seat panels, uncovering these expolsive charges, which deploy airbags upon impact. After peeling the car’s skin, the men could see where the ignitor modules were located.
Bielema wired the airbags to force their deployment. Chief Dave Benters observed, “Airbags are different” than they were during the last extrication training on two Mitsubishis in 2010. “They’re all over [the car] now.”
Bielema cited multiple airbags on the Mitsubishi: frontal driver and passenger bags; side-impact bags for driver and passenger in the front seat; side “curtains” that drop down from the window headliners, protecting all passengers’ heads.
Did the firemen gain new knowledge? Bielema answered, “It was more of a refresher, to get hydraulic tools into everybody’s hands.” He added “probably about six [extrications] a year” are handled by the department, sometimes in assistance to other departments.