BY JEREMY RIFFLARD
In presidential election years, candidates, Secret Service personnel, protesters, and dignitaries are on the campaign trail across America, passing through all 50 states, stopping in small communities and large cities. Your engine company arrives at an intersection to find an unconscious driver of an armored sport utility vehicle (SUV). The locked doors, the roof, and the undercarriage are reinforced with one-inch-thick steel; the hinges are thick reinforced steel. The glass is bullet resistive. How can you access this patient?
Armored vehicles are designed to keep people and projectiles out. They can appear to be an everyday passenger car, a limousine, an SUV, or a van (photo 1). The steel reinforcement strength is beyond what your rescue tools can cut. The weakest point of this vehicle is the bullet-resistive glass, which is often comprised of multiple layers of tempered glass and polycarbonate; it may be ¾ inch to three inches thick, depending on the type of force it is designed to resist (photo 2).
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