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Stephen HoffmanRandom firefighting comment follows…
The video recently circulating, showing a turnout-clad firefighter swinging an axe at the side glass of a Tesla Cybertruck, is either entirely for show, or might show that some firefighters can need to learn a little more about performing vehicle extrication on modern vehicles.
Nothing more.
For firefighters, vehicles and vehicle tech changes.
Always has.
Beyond EV batteries and EV power cable routing, and explosively-deployable airbags and explosively-deployed roll-bars and other occupant-protection systems, and many other changes to vehicles, the use of laminated side glass has been increasing in the last ~20 years, too.
Laminated glass is a sandwich of layers of glass and plastic, as compared with other types of non-laminated glasses such as tempered glass.
Laminated glass doesn’t shatter into tiny pieces when sharply struck, as will tempered glass and some other types of glass. The layer(s) of plastic will hold most of the pane together. This unlike how tempered shatters when hit with a spring-loaded center punch, or with an impact from any other small sharp object.
Fire axes and other “not-sharp” strikes generally bounce off of tempered side glass. No shattering. But complete shattering on sharp hits is why you don’t want a tempered glass windshield. One sharp hit to a tempered glass pane, and you have nothing in front of you for whatever arrives next.
Because of this shattering, laminated glass has been required in windshields for many years, and its use in vehicle side windows started to happen back around 2000.
Want to know what sort of vehicle side window you’re looking at? It’s usually labeled. Look for “tempered” or “laminated “ in the tiny print present on most side windows.
If a firefighter uses a center punch once or twice on a side window, and gets little more than a chip-hole or two, then the side window is likely laminated. A firefighter can then switch to a glass saw, or to other similar windshield tools, or can use an axe to chop a breach through, all in the same way that a firefighter would breach a laminated windshield.
Big axe swings are gonna bounce against even tempered side glass, though.
If all you have is an axe, use the blade edge to tap a trench through the laminate, following along the edges of the laminate pane, and keeping to the edge of the pane near the frame.
Yeah, most firefighters would like to practice extrications on newer vehicles too, but that opportunity tends to be rare and expensive. But laminate has been around long enough that every active firefighter should have had an opportunity to practice breaching it.
Rick
KMäNriffs
