Hybrid Vehicles and Emergency Response

Increased sales of hybrid vehicles due to higher gas prices and concern for the environment have increased attention to emergency response at vehicular accidents involving hybrid vehicles.

Currently, many hybrid vehicles are available to the public. These included the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic, Honda Insight, Ford Escape, Chevy Silverado, Dodge Ram, and Lexus RX 400 to name a few. With more of these vehicles on the roads and highways, more vehicular accidents involving hybrids will inevitably occur. Therefore, it’s important that fire fighters and paramedics become familiar with these vehicles and the safety concerns of responding to accidents involving them.

Ronald Moore of firehouse.com’s University of Extrication has written a thorough three-part series on responding to motor vehicle accidents involving hybrid vehicles. It can be found by clicking here.  

In addition, the Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, American Honda Motors and Toyota Motors have produced booklets and training courses for emergency service workers responding to hybrid vehicle accidents. These guides can be downloaded or accessed from the extrication.com website.