ooops, wong car

[kjohn23]

Jul 22, 8:27 PM EDT

Firefighters tear apart wrong vehicle

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Albany firefighters were tearing apart a minivan as part of a training exercise when someone noticed the personal items inside. That's when they realized they had trashed the wrong vehicle.

This week, Albany officials approved the city's share of the $12,000 bill for the 2002 Dodge Caravan that was mistakenly ripped open during a drill at a junk yard a year ago.

Officials say the firefighters routinely practice accident scene rescue techniques by tearing open donated junked cars. In June 2004, they were supposed to practice on an older vehicle located on another part of junk yard.

Instead, they used the Jaws of Life to tear open a three-year-old minivan that was at the business to undergo repairs.








The owner of the junk yard admitted its role in the mistake and is splitting the cost of the van with the fire department.

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The morale of the story:always double check before tearing up a car.

[paris04]

Yikes! :p

[nmfire]

Hahahahha. We always joke about that just before a drill, but I didn't think anyone actually did it. :D

[spearsm]

How'd that turn out?

NOT TOOOOOOO GOOOD!:)

[LeuitEFDems]

I remember watching this on the local news when this 1st happened (we get Albany stations here). Now, the local junkyard, if we do the extrication drills at their place, mark the cars with "traffic orange" spraypaint and put the vehicles in a predetermined location on their lot.

[Steamer]

The same thing happened in Columbus several years ago. The guy parked his car where the vehicles they were supposed to use were placed. He had backed the vehicle into his parking space, and it had no front plate (illegal in Ohio). No one knew anything was wrong until he came out asking where his car was at. It was pretty much a big "filet" at this point and largely unrecognizable. Funny thing was that the cars they had been given to tear apart were all in better shape than the car that the guy drove in with.

The salvage yard gave him a car off of their lot in compensation.

[EFD840]

It happened in my county too, only the blame didn't fall on the FD's shoulders.

A local junkyard agreed to provide a vehicle for an extrication demonstration but brought the wrong car. The FD, not knowing any better, proceeded to put on the demo. Apparently, someone in the crowd actually knew the owner and recognized the vehicle but spoke up too late.

[JackTee09]

:D This post put a smile on my face. Hilarious - as long as it wasn't my car.

[Rossco]

We've joked about this right before a drill too. Not so funny when it actually happens. So perhaps we shouldn't park our good cars near the junk yard. LOL

We had a mishap at an accident scene where an onlooker apparently offered for the accident victims to sit in the back of her car. we showed up to see a young girl laying in the back of a car, complaining of back and neck pain, and that she couldn't feel her legs. The car was situated so that it looked like it was involved in the accident, stuck in the snow bank, and crooked in the road. It was a 4 door, but the rear doors wouldn't open enough to get her out of there while on the back board, sooooo, I sprung the rear door open further than its intended swing, and out she came. 3 other cars were involved, scattered all over the place, so the vehicle owner understood the mistake, and did not persue it. We got lucky.

[SpartanGuy]

Whenever we cut apart cars, we do it on site at our fire station. If they bring the wrong car, it's not our fault:)

[CaptainGonzo]

The same thing happened in the town of Framingham. Someone parked their rolling POS in the same line as the cars that the Framingham FD had delivered for their vehicle extrication drills. There was no plate on the front of the vehicle, and it was in such poor condition (dented, cracked windshield and filthy rotten dirty on the outside, a rolling dumpster on the inside) that the FFD's training officer thought it was part of the delivery!

The owner of the car insisted that the FFD buy him a brand new vehicle. I believe the town paid him the book value for the car.

[firefighter26]

I don't think this has happened in our neck of the woods... however, we usually get people who donate vehicles and sometimes they just show up in the training pit.... I always wondered what would happen if someone stole a car, used it in a robbery, then parked it in an FD training pit.......?

I do know of someone cutting the battery cables of a car parked next to the accident scene thinking it was involved.....

[Weruj1]

I agree .......pretty darn funny as long as it didnt happen here ..........WHOOOOPS ........and also ........"Uh ....hey Chief...ya got a sec?"

[Peetmoss]

I can't imagine the look on the guys face.

[hwoods]

Cutting up the car wasn't too bad, as long as the occupants escaped.....:D :D Like Spartan Guy, we have a towing company that provides cars for our Rescue Training, delivered to our Station, and cut up in a specific area in the rear of the station. And, Capt Gonzo, Do you suppose the car was parked in the wrong place ON PURPOSE?? Probably been tried somewhere. Sudden Thought # 935,689,342,732,805.3 "Is Cutting the Wrong Car as bad as Burning the Wrong House?":eek: :eek: :eek:

[CaptainGonzo]

Originally posted by hwoods
Capt Gonzo, Do you suppose the car was parked in the wrong place ON PURPOSE??

Ding ding ding ding ding! We have a winner! The owner of the car thought he would get a new car out of it...the clunker wasn't worth anything except scrap value.

Sudden Thought # 935,689,342,732,805.3 "Is Cutting the Wrong Car as bad as Burning the Wrong House?":eek: :eek: :eek:

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Nope! :D

[Co11FireGal]

We also have a towing company who brings us vechicles to the station to use...the guy brings them and takes them away when we're done pretty much whenever he pleases, and we get people who ocasionally park in that lot, so a mistake could be possible...fortunately the guy from the wrecker company spray paints the vehicles with his name or "RVFD," so that doesn't happen.

I don't think that has ever happened here, but some depts. around could stand to learn to try before they pry...:rolleyes:

[stillPSFB]

Originally posted by Co11FireGal
I don't think that has ever happened here, but some depts. around could stand to learn to try before they pry...:rolleyes:
or maybe check before they wreck...

[hwoods]

Originally posted by Co11FireGal


I don't think that has ever happened here, but some depts. around could stand to learn to try before they pry...:rolleyes:

Or, in the case of accompanying Fire, Look before they Cook....:D

[RyanEMVFD]

But the question should be, did they get some good training out of it? :D

[Dave1983]

Too funny!:D :D :D

[DrParasite]

I know this might sounds kinda stupid, but since it seems to happen more often than it should, does anyone do something proactive to prevent it?

ie, whomever is running the drill, and knows what cars will be cutting up, comes a couple hours (or day or two) before the date of the drill with a car on spray paints and sprays FD in BIG BOLD letters over the cars? this way, the FD only cuts apart the cars with FD on it, and doesn't have any unfortunate accidents.

I know, it's something that takes less than 5 minutes to do, and in 99.99% of the time isn't needed, but if it saves your but just once......