故障在故障安全系统设计d to assure compliance with federally mandated diesel emissions standards forced a D.C. ambulance to shut down on Interstate 295 while its crew transported a gravely injured gunshot victim Wednesday, reports The Washington Times.
D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services officials are still probing the glitch but say the issue seems to be specific to a sequence of warning lights that ultimately notify the ambulance crew the engine will shut off imminently. And while it’s the first time city officials said a department ambulance has failed while in transport as a result of the emissions system, widespread problems have been reported nationally.
“What I want to do is see what the computer says about this problem and then we can re-evaluate if we need to do anything,” Deputy Chief John Donnelly said of the issue. “We’re going to look at the series of warning lights and the indicators. They should lead us back to the problem.”
The ambulance was dispatched at about 2:20 p.m. Wednesday, after a man suspected in a Southeast carjacking initiated a shootout with police and was hit by gunfire. The ambulance carrying 34-year-old Nathaniel McRae to Howard University Hospital pulled over en route because it shut down. Emergency workers continued to perform CPR on the man and waited for about 10 minutes until another ambulance could respond.
In all, about 45 minutes passed from the time the ambulance was dispatched and the time another ambulance arrived at Howard University Hospital with the patient.
Fire officials said the delay “wouldn’t have had any impact” on the man’s chances of survival.
Officials blamed the problem on the need for the ambulance to “regenerate,” a process that heavy diesel engines are routinely required to undergo in order to cleanse particles, similar to soot, from their exhaust systems after it is captured in a filter. If the soot is not removed routinely, an engine can suffer a drop in power or fail in a manner similar to what would occur if an exhaust pipe was obstructed.
The problem has plagued fire departments across the country since manufacturers of rescue equipment added the devices to comply with stronger Environmental Protection Agency standards governing diesel emissions in 2007 and again in 2010.
In many cases, engines running at high levels for long periods of time can generate enough heat to cleanse the filters and avoid a drop or failure in engine performance. But for urban departments, which often perform short runs, the vehicles are required to undergo what’s called “manual regeneration,” in which the vehicle must be parked and the engine run at a high level for an extended period of time in order to generate the heat necessary to burn the soot from the filter.
救护车and fire equipment are outfitted with a series of lights to warn drivers when regeneration is required if it does not occur automatically.
The filters are also put on fire trucks, which must undergo a similar process.
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