In November 1999, a 46-year-old volunteer firefighter in Texas was fatally injured after the tanker he was driving rolled over en-route to the scene of a fire. The victim had been a volunteer for four years and had completed the apparatus operator's training course. That day the weather was clear and sunny, and the road was dry. The speed limit was 55mph, though the tanker is believed to have been traveling slower than the posted limit. When the firefighter lost control of the vehicle, the tanker ran off the opposite shoulder, flipped and rolled. The unbelted victim was partially ejected from the cab, and the truck came to rest upside down, pinning the victim down. The victim was extricated and taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival, the result of blunt trauma.

Incident reports such as this one are all too common in the fire service. According to the USFA, motor vehicle accidents are the second-leading cause of line-of-duty deaths, contributing to 20-25% of firefighter deaths since 1980 and almost 65% in 2003. A 1999 study by the Center for National Truck Statistics revealed that rollovers are the most significant collision event affecting fire truck occupant injury, contributing to nearly all fire truck occupant fatalities between 1994 and 1996.

Until recently, fire chiefs were faced with few options regarding rollover protection. But in 2003, the RollTek rollover protection system was introduced to the fire truck market, combining side airbag protection with the latest advancements in seatbelt technology.

Why rollover protection

Rollover protection is meeting a real need for fire chiefs concerned with the safety of their crews. Tests conducted at IMMI's Center for Advanced Product Evaluation show that without RollTek, an unbelted crash-test dummy experienced severe head impact with the interior roof, scoring a 5 out of 6 on the Abbreviated Injury Scale. The Abbreviated Injury Scale measures the severity of an injury from 0 to 6, 0 being no severity and 6 being maximum severity, considered virtually unsurvivable.

In a repeat of this test with the rollover protection in place, the same dummy had no contact with the roof of the cab, scoring a 0 on the Abbreviated Injury Scale. Proper function of the system significantly reduces the probability of injury to the occupant, when the occupant is wearing a seatbelt.

Chief Ken Gilliam of the Noblesville (Ind.) Fire Department recently purchased a Pierce engine equipped with rollover protection. “Almost everything we do around here is targeted toward maximizing safety for firefighters,” he says. “Rollover protection is just one more safety element we can include that raises the level of protection a little higher. If we buy rollover protection and only one firefighter avoids serious injury as a result, then we've justified our investment, in my opinion.”

In addition to the personal loss felt by friends and family after a firefighter death or injury, on-the-job accidents cost the economy thousands of dollars every year in financial and legal issues. RollTek may serve as a way to lower these costs. “Besides the basic moral considerations, there are always serious financial and legal consequences from these accidents,” says Gilliam. “If having rollover protection on-board reduces the seriousness of injuries, then it would also stand to reason that it will reduce the litigation costs after the fact.”

How it works

The rollover protection system is comprised of an integrated series of components controlled by a roll sensor, a sensing device that detects tipping and instantaneously triggers protective equipment according to the rate of roll. The sensor also acts as a black box, recording crash events.

After the sensor detects that a rollover is imminent, the system's first two protective devices are activated simultaneously. The buckle pretensioner tightens the seatbelt around the belted occupant, minimizing occupant mobility and positioning the occupant securely in the seat, and the pull-down system pulls the suspension seats to their lowest possible positions, increasing the occupant survivable space and minimizing head contact with the interior roof. The seat pull-down system also can reposition an out-of-position occupant and prevent the seats from rising and acting as catapults.

Asst. Chief Bob Wilson of the Frankfort (Ill.) Fire Department also has purchased a RollTek-equipped engine, this one from KME. “It was a unanimous decision to purchase the truck with rollover protection,” he says. “We decided that it would give our firefighters the best safety available right now. If there is a rollover and the system deploys and saves someone's life or prevents a serious injury, it'll make it all worthwhile.”

Once the seatbelts have been tightened and the suspension seats lowered, the roll sensor triggers the side airbags stored in the cab frame. The airbags come in two shapes, a tubular structure and a head cushion, that deploy across the windows to cushion the head and neck during side impact and help to prevent occupant ejection. Both airbags use hybrid inflators, which permit the use of a gas that is half the temperature of that used by their predecessors. These lower temperatures mean that the airbags are made of thinner fabrics and do not require the heat shields and other components found in earlier airbags, so they are more compact. These airbags remain inflated for a minimum of 10 seconds, significantly longer than conventional airbags. The entire sequence of events, from roll sensor signal to airbag deployment, takes less than half of a second.

Although an unbelted passenger may be afforded some protection by the airbags, the RollTek rollover protection system relies on seatbelts as its core restraining device. “Seatbelts are an effective way to reduce injury and save lives,” says John Porter, IMMI engineer. “We want to encourage seatbelt use, and that is why we've incorporated them into our RollTek system — it wouldn't be complete without them. Seatbelts are essential.”

Where to find it

RollTek's rollover protection system is currently available on apparatus from Pierce and KME, and will be available from others in 2005. Each manufacturer offers a different combination of system components in their respective rollover packages.

Pierce, which in 2003 became the first manufacturer to integrate rollover protection into fire trucks, offers RollTek as part of their Side Roll Protection system, a standard feature on their Dash, Lance, Enforcer, Quantum and Arrow XT custom chassis. “For many years, there have been far too many instances of rollover-type accidents in which firefighters have lost their lives when traveling to and from the scene,” says Ann Stawski, marketing communications manager at Pierce. This rollover package features the roll sensor, buckle pretensioners on all seats, the pull-down system on the driver and first-officer suspension seats, tubular side airbags across the driver and first officer windows, and extra padding in head strike locations throughout the cab.

In August 2004, KME Fire Apparatus debuted the RollTek system as an option on their Predator chassis as part of their Total Occupant Protection system. Included in this rollover package is the roll sensor, buckle pretensioners on all seats, the pull-down system on any suspension seat, and the inflatable head cushion on the driver's window, first officer's window, and all outer crew cab positions. “The TOP system with RollTek is part of an ongoing effort by KME to ensure that our apparatus keeps the safety of first responders as our primary concern,” says John Kovatch III, the company's president. “That's why [we] released the system with superior protection for both front and rear occupants in all positions.”

Ferrara Fire Apparatus Inc. is integrating RollTek on Igniter and Inferno chassis, and is expected to debut the vehicles in 2005. “We design all of our vehicles with safety in mind, and incorporating RollTek into our Complete Airbag Protection program has allowed us to take safety one step further,” says Chris Ferrara, president and CEO. Included in the optional rollover protection package will be a roll sensor, buckle pretensioners on all seats, the pull-down system on any suspension seat, an inflatable head cushion on the cab's middle windows, and either the inflatable head cushion or tubular airbag on the front and rear windows.

Safety lessons

The next phase for the rollover protection system is the launch of Post Crash: 101, an education program for emergency medical technicians, who are anxious for training and identification tools that enable them to quickly identify and effectively address post-crash rescue opportunities. The educational campaign will involve:

• Identifying RollTek-equipped vehicles with exterior decals.
• Identifying RollTek components, such as airbags, with visual labels.
• Providing educational materials/support to extrication organizations, consultants and experts.
• Providing an online education center for EMT trainers.

Extrication expert Ron Moore will be writing the educational materials. He is an award-winning training officer who has conducted rescue seminars across the country since 1979.

In addition to the EMT education campaign, the RollTek system soon will include frontal protection as well as state-of-the-art pre- and post-crash support. “RollTek can make a real difference for firefighters and their families by reducing risk during one of the most dangerous parts of their job,” says Tom Anthony, IMMI CEO. “It is our goal to not only save lives and reduce injury, but also to shorten the time between when the collision happens and when life-saving help arrives.”

The RollTek system is meeting a need in the industry, providing fire chiefs with a viable option for increasing the safety of their firefighters. And as firefighter safety continues to be at the forefront of discussion within the industry, this and other new technologies are coming to the rescue.

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Bridgette Tilyou is a technical communications specialist for IMMI, a Westfield, Ind., — based manufacturer of safety restraint systems.