Contra Costa County Fireplace Safety District officers are taking steps to guard drivers and firefighters at crash scenes.
The district has retrofitted a 23-year-old surplus fireplace engine to function its new visitors security unit.
After a number of collisions between drivers and fireplace district equipment working at emergency scenes on highways, the district turned the older engine right into a specialised visitors security unit designed to supply efficient “blocking” of an emergency scene.
Based on a report given to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors at its Jan. 21 assembly, the unit is supplied with a Scorpion truck-mounted attenuator on the rear of the equipment to soak up the influence of collisions.
It would additionally function a number of lighting methods to prominently determine the equipment, an overhead LED message board that may be programmed to alert drivers, an illuminated directional arrow on the rear of the unit, and a provide of visitors cones and different warning units to alert drivers.
An undated photograph of Con Fireplace’s new visitors security unit. The repurposed fireplace truck has been retrofitted with a Scorpion truck-mounted attenuator on the rear to soak up the influence of collisions. (Contra Costa County Fireplace Safety District by way of Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors)
The fireplace district stated it’s the first of what could also be a number of visitors security models to be deployed all through the county the place collisions have occurred.
A driver was killed on Feb. 18, 2023, when a Tesla slammed into a fireplace truck working the scene of an early morning crash on northbound Interstate 680 in Walnut Creek.
Genesis Mendoza-Martinez, 31, of Pittsburg, was pronounced useless on the scene. 4 firefighters suffered minor accidents from the crash close to the Deal with Boulevard off-ramp.
The fireplace district stated the unit might be prepared for service in February.