Firefighter details how to safely escape a sinking vehicle following collapse of a Baltimore bridge

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

After the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed early Tuesday morning, sending people and vehicles into the river nearby, a local firefighter detailed how to escape a vehicle.

Boone County Fire Protection District Assistant Chief Gale Blomenkamp said the biggest problem that emergency officials face when attempting to rescue people is time. Blomenkamp said vehicles can become fully submerged in water within seconds to a few minutes, and firefighters are only trained to help when the vehicle is still partially above water.

"So, the rescues are going to have to happen generally by bystanders on the scene," Blomenkamp said. "It's very hard for a fire department to respond and get there while the vehicle is still above the surface of the water."

Blomenkamp recommends people become familiar with how to escape themselves if they're trapped.

The first thing Blomenkamp said people should aim to do is roll down their windows, if they still have power in their vehicle and don't have a crank. The next step would be getting the door of the vehicle open before it becomes submerged. An individual's last resort would be attempting to break their window, a task Blomenkamp said is not easy.

"In order to break the window you've got to have something sharp that would punch right in the corner of the window, is where we teach people to break them," Blomenkamp said. "They can press into the corner and break the glass."

Blomenkamp said it's a good idea for people to keep a window punch device in an area that is visible, can be found easily and remembered to use in a situation when panic kicks in.

A few areas Blomenkamp said he'd advise against keeping one are in your vehicle's glove compartment on middle console. However, he said hanging one of them from a rearview mirror could be beneficial, as it can be easily spotted.

A study done by the University of Manitoba shows 350-400 people die in submersed vehicles in North America each year. It also states those deaths make up 10% of drownings and lists vehicle submersion as the highest death rate for a single vehicle accident.

Another recommendation from experts is to use the acronym S.W.O.C:

S: Seatbelts off

W: Windows open

O: Out immediately

C: Children first

Blomenkamp said another concern among search and rescue efforts involving a submerged or sinking vehicle is the temperature of the water. This leads to the potential for hypothermia, a condition that becomes problematic almost immediately.

"Even if there was a vehicle with an air pocket where somebody could have gotten to that air pocket to survive, you know the hypothermia is going to set in and take them pretty fairly quickly within probably an hour or so," Blomenkamp said.

In his years of working for BCFPD, Blomenkamp said most incidents he's responded to involved vehicles that were partially submerged, leading to their rescue. However, he noted any accident he's witnessed involving a submerged vehicle turned into a recovery, rather than a rescue.

In that event, the incident gets turned over to the Missouri State Highway Patrol's diving team who work to recover the individuals.

"It's just an unfortunate thing," Blomenkamp said. "Accidents do occur and you know, people try to be prepared as best as they can but you know this is something that's an anomaly, it doesn't happen often."