responding

Live rounds go off in police car on fire. Published: 2/4/2011

We responded to a report of a vehicle fire near a residential area. The

vehicle was a police car involved in a high speed chase. The alleged

car thief had abandoned his vehicle and fled on foot, so the police

officer stopped his vehicle and pursued him on foot. We arrived to find

the vehicle fully involved in fire, sitting in a grassy area with no

structures within 200 feet. A wooded area was within 50 yds. We

proceeded to knock down the fire in the vehicle and heard popping

sounds, which were ammunition rounds going off. We did not retreat,

just backed up a few feet and continued the attack.

Lessons Learned

The vehicle was a total loss with nothing to save.

We should have retreated and just kept the fire from spreading.

No people were in the vehicle.

We were not injured but could have been

Demographics

 Department Type: Volunteer

 Job or Rank: Captain

 Department Shift: Respond from home

 Age: 43 - 51

 Years of Fire Service Experience: 4 - 6

 Region: FEMA Region VIII

 Service Area: Rural

2

Event Information

 Event Type: Fire emergency event: structure fire, vehicle fire,

wildland fire, etc.

 Date and Time: Jun 15 2008 10:00PM

 Hours Into the Shift:

 Event Participation: Involved in the event

 Weather at Time of Event:

 Do you think this will happen again?

 Contributing Factors? Command, Decision Making, SOP / SOG

 What do you believe is the loss potential?: Life threatening injury