Simona's fire & the pathetic attempt to put it out..

[racerxf12004]

I couldnt beleive how unprepared the safety crew was when they tried to put out the fire on Simonas car. It was like watching the 3 stooges in action. One guy stood there with a fire house & there was no water pressure. Another guy tried to pull her out of the car. I couldnt beleive it! Finally one of them put an extingisher on the fire. This was after 15 seconds of her still sitting in the car after they pulled up. This could have been really UGLY if she was in the car for another 10 seconds. The IRL needs to look at there procedures of putting out fires a little more closely....

[DanicaFan]

I agree, the safety crew is usually very good at doing the job but that was terrible. They knew the car was on fire as it was rolling down the track. A safety crew member in that first truck should of had an extinguisher on his lap ready to go and when they got there, jump out and start putting out the fire.

[mountainstar]

Someone sent me a youtube clip of this and it looked like a bunch of monkeys doing a football.

Obviously they had no plan when it hit the fan. I wont try to second guess those guys too much but I don't think they looked that organized. I believe the FIA guidelines/rules say the first extinguisher has to hit the drivers area in 7.5 seconds. What they were doing fiddling around with the hose and running around like chickens with their head cut off I do not know.

[fieldodreams79]

i think a bucket brigade would have put the fire out quicker. looks to me like both truck's hoses malfunctioned; that is quite unacceptable. 1st truck crew panicked after that.

glad that she only had minor burns and was in remarkably good spirits about it in her interview during the race broadcast.

[JagtechOhio]

This is the Holmatro Safety Team. They are supposed to be trained experts, who are transported by the IRL to every event along with their specially designed equipment.

They appear to be experts at picking up trash from the ground after an accident. And sweeping up cat litter. That was a disgrace.

[Stuart Hill]

As a Marshal with over 25yrs experience (some of it in the USA), it was embarrassing to watch. I've seen novices with minimal training do better.

At least Simona doesn't seem too badly injured and here's to a speedy recovery.

Those of you who haven't seen it yet, see below and judge for yourselves...

Simona's crash

[JagtechOhio]

Thanks for the clip, Stewart.

I counted 20 sec. from impact to car stopped. It seemed to me that they should have been on scene faster, seeing the slow slide and the flames. 30 seconds more before the first extinguisher was played.

Nobody reached for a kill switch or the onboard fire system activation, did they?

It seemed like an hour in real time. Thank goodness for the lucky result, there was not much skill in evidence.

[Piglet]

Shocking stuff, I counted 40 seconds between the car stopping and the first extinguisher being used. I don't know what their procedure is but to me surely the first guy out the first truck should be knocking down the fire with a dry powder whilst the others sort the hose.

[JagtechOhio]

13.19B. “The master switch must be used as supplied by the chassis Manufacturer. The switch must energize the onboard fire extinguisher and shut off the ignition. The switch shall be clearly marked with a decal, which will be supplied by Officials”.

That's the red ring with the "E" sticker. I would presume that to be the first action taken by the first safety crew member to reach the car.

[gttouring]

what a disaster and the way they pulled poor simona out of the car and just tugged and tugged!
i hope she is ok and they under stand and explain what went wrong with the crew and equipment and such

[mountainstar]

With the lovely "reunification" between Champcar and the irl in 2008, the irl got rid of Champcars full time paid safety team and now uses volunteers from god knows where now. Especially considering the irls horrific safety record, it's a pathetic disgrace.

It's just another sign that the irl is and always has been amateur hour.

I'm looking forward to the day the hulmangeorges sell out and we get away from this buffoonery from 1950's Indiana. It's 2010.

Another issue is what if the driver had been unconscious with a serious neck or head injury and that idiot was sitting there yanking away at her??

Just unbelievably pathetic. PATHETIC!!

[foreversideways]

It reminded me of the bad old days of motor racing and she was lucky that it wasn't a fuel fire as with that bunch trying to put it out she would have stood no chance. Wouldn't give you much confidence if you were competing in the series and it proves yet again just how good are British marshals are.

[JamesRamone]

when the safety vehicle first pulled up the crew didn't seem to be in any hurry to get out of the car and get the situation sorted.

[JagtechOhio]

Sorry about the picture failure...if you look at a photo of any IndyCar, there is a red ring with an "E" symbol on the left side roll bar cowling, just aft of the headrest. That's master kill switch for ignition and activation for on-board fire supression.

Seems to me the first guy out of the truck should be laying powder or foam, the second guy to the car pulls the ring and works on pulling the driver.

I totally agree with Whosyer, the long, slow slide of the burning car should have enabled the safety truck to intercept it on the apron. Extinguishers in hand. It was 20 seconds after impact, easy.

No training, but as a mechanic I have put out three car fires before. You stop the fire first, before it has an opportunity to spread. Beyond blowing the onboard system, extracting the driver is secondary to preventing the flames from getting out of control and making the rescue impossible.

Isn't that more logical? If mountainstar's point about the driver being unable to move was the case, the entire procedure that was followed is a$$ backwards.

I hope this whole episode becomes a training film for safety crews the world over. We have all seen videos of how it is done correctly (Gerhard Berger crash '89 is another good example). Now everyone knows how to do it wrong.

[JagtechOhio]

HVM speaks out:

http://www.racer.com/hvm-criticizes-...rticle/171800/

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by JagtechOhio

HVM speaks out:

http://www.racer.com/hvm-criticizes-...rticle/171800/

"ashamed"
"circus"
"speechless"

they (and Simona) were a helluva lot nicer than i would have been.

[Flyin Ryan]

Right in half on the safety crew's delay.

The other half thinks "isn't a driver supposed to get themselves out of a car in 4 seconds?" My dad commented he didn't think she took her steering wheel off and that was why she was stuck in the car for so long. Looking at the replay I never saw it come out. Simona's like stuck in the car for 20 seconds and she could walk fine after so it wasn't like she had a leg injury preventing her from getting out. Safety crew was incompetent there but so was de Silvestro.

[Whosyermon]

I understand Simona's praise of the safety crew... they made mistakes, they had equipment failures, they took too long and looked like they had never done this before, but in spite of all of that they saved her life.

Something that will stick with Simona for some time... I imagine.

[Tenoch]

It looked like she and the safety crew panicked after their first attempts did not suceed.

[JHamilton]

Just able to get in to post this, but I'm glad I was not the only one who feels this way... I was completely infuriated after watching this incident. Completely unacceptable. These guys should spend some time with the NHRA Safety Safari.

[PVDA]

So why didn't the driver activate the on board fire bottle, I'm also pretty sure you can see her remove the steering wheel as soon as the car stops.

[cptkablamo]

Could it have been the case that the extinguisher was damaged in the impact or the fuel for the fire simply was too strong for the extinguisher to work as desired? It appears that the headrest could have been an issue in this case.

After this incident and the one involving the Lambo at Brno, there must be a review of how to deal with accidents with significant fire

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Not wanting to over egg the pudding the marshals did a rubbish job.

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

but it is not up to the driver alone to get out. where the drivers fail, the safety crew MUST step in quickly, efficiently and without hesitation.

i wouldn't describe their response with any of the words in BOLD.

[racerkeke]

Let's be clear here -- Indycar does not have "marshals" at oval tracks. This was their (ahem) professional safety team. The six paid observers Indycar uses are not able to access the course. Only the safety team can do that. Observers are strictly "eyes on the ground" communicators.
keke

[EGG]

I understand Simona's praise of the safety crew... they made mistakes, they had equipment failures, they took too long and looked like they had never done this before, but in spite of all of that they saved her life.

Something that will stick with Simona for some time... I imagine.

I don't know about that, she might just be very professional in how she handles the media. Certainly the way they yanked her out of the car and then marched her over to the wall wasn't inspiring. I crashed my motorbike earlier this year and put a 4cm hole in my leg, if someone had started dragging me around by the arm after that I would have decked them (Paul Tracy would have also!).