In the recent issue of Men's Health magazine there is an article titled "Crash and Learn." The article, written by Michael Perry, a volunteer firefighter and EMT, describes 27 ways to keep disaster in check.
One item that stood out for me was that if you are involved in some sort of a car fire (car fires make up 20% of all fires), never remain directly in front of or in back of a burning vehicle, as shock-absorbing bumpers can overheat and explode with enough force to crush your legs.
Probably not likely it would happen, but a dangerous situation I was not aware of.

Also if your air bags didn't deploy stay away from them or tape it up. I saw firefighter flying across the sidewalk when sideair bag deployed late during extrication.

Matt

Disconnecting the battery before any attempt in a car accident may solve lots of problems.

Burak

Yes. First thing when on the scene is cutting the battery cable.

I added a pair of cable cutters a year ago to my "car kit" for this very purpose. Never tied it to the air bags though.
Good input.

As if we need one more thing to worry about, some of the brake parts on newer cars are made of a product that produces poison gas when it burns! So stay well upwind of a burning vehicle. I can't recall the name of the poison gas, but I do remember being briefed on this several years ago when I was still on duty with the CHP...

One other thing that they point out in the article is that if you pull over due to fire in your engine comapartment, pop the inside hood release to make it easier for the FF to put the fire out.
Personally, if my car catches on fire to that point, I want the thing to be a TOTAL insurance claim.

Oh, great. So now the smart thieves are going to cut my battery cables before stealing the air bags. <img src="images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

As if we didn't have enough to worry about (what with SARS, mad cow disease, terrorists hijacking airliners by strangling everyone on board, one at a time, with dental floss, etc.) <img src="images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Funny, we just had a call for a car fire tuesday night


1. Don't Breathe. There's lots of of toxic stuff, even deadly Phosgene gas if the air conditioning system is a freon-charged system. Get AWAY from the smoke unless you have an air pack on.

2. Don't approach without protective gear, esp. multiple eye protections. Tires, Shocks, Gas Lift Struts, and of course, the fuel tank all tend to go "Boom" when heated (as they did in this fire).

3. Don't assume that the ground all around the vehicle won't burst into flames instantly. There can be fuel all on the ground not ignited yet until some flaming plastic drips on the ground.

Just some typical stuff that we think about.

Some folks here who are also involved in public safety mentioned cutting the battery cable in their car. Here in Bucks and neighboring Montgomery county, we've had some bad experiences with car safety equipment. Read on.

First of all, if your car goes on fire, and you don't happen to have a Scott-Pack on with a fully-filled bottle, GET OUT OF THE CAR IMMEDIATELY. Don't mess with the hood release (an open hood will just give air to the fire and make it go FASTER) and don't go near a burning car - they go up in about 60 seconds, and they are dangerous.

Next, if you ARE an emergency worker, you should know that those new "Hybrid" electric vehicles have several batteries, and cutting the 12V battery cable does NOT de-energize the entire vehicle. In fact, there's a whole independent power system that runs into the hundres of volts at serious amperage. More than enough to kill you. These high voltage lines are sheathed in organge jackets, but it can be hard to tell if the car had burned.

Also:
From:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/998111.asp
500 VOLTS
       It’s not just safety devices that have emergency workers concerned. New fuel or engine technologies such as explosive propane gas tanks or powerful electric batteries also pose risks.
       A Montgomery County firefighter, for instance, noticed something strange recently when he approached a wrecked car. Though the engine was shut off, the injured driver kept her foot on the brake. It turned out the car was still running on silent electric power and could have surged forward, hitting rescuers or bystanders.
       The car was a Toyota Prius, a gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle that uses battery power at low speeds. “We had talked about it in training, and there it was,” said Lt. Monte Fitch, a rescue instructor with the Montgomery County fire department who took that report from one of his trainees.
       In addition to running silently, the battery in a hybrid packs enough voltage to kill a person — more than 500 volts in the 2004 Prius, compared with 12 volts in the standard car battery. In the Prius, the battery is in an unexpected spot, behind the rear seat.