After conducting a full review of the Safety Team’s less-than-stellar response to Simona de Silvestro’s crash at the Firestone 550k on June 5, the Indy Racing League has discovered that there was a fire hose packing error and ‘a breakdown in Safety Team protocol’ in their efforts.
De Silvestro’s machine quickly erupted in flames after she crashed on Lap 97, but the Safety Team were initially unable to put out the fire and had difficulty in getting her out of the No. 78 HVM Racing special. Once they were able to do that, they finally were able to extinguish the inferno.
Mike Yates, the League’s track safety manager, said in the release that after a regular Safety Team test of the hose, there was a re-packing error that caused it to malfunction during the crash’s aftermath.
‘We are modifying hoses on all of the trucks beginning this weekend in Iowa to prevent this from happening again,” he said.
Yates also reported that in the Safety Team’s usual first response protocol, members must take pressurized canisters of water and Cold Fire with them to put out any blazes.
“In situations like this, decisions are made in a split second based on the severity of the incident,” he said, addressing the protocol breakdown. “After critiquing the situation, we have determined that the canisters are a more efficient and effective way to quickly suppress on-track fires. This will be reviewed with all Safety Team members.”
League president of competition/racing operations Brian Barnhart said what happened at Texas could be chalked up to ‘human error’ and that the league will work to prevent another problem like De Silvestro’s in the future.
“The safety of our teams, drivers and officials on the racetrack remains our number one priority,” he said.
De Silvestro took some burns to her right hand while attempting to help the Safety Team get her out of the No. 78 car, but thankfully, that was all she sustained in the accident.
As memorable as her crash was, a lot of fans seem to be remembering her stoic response to it — in particular, her refusal to rip into the Safety Team and her willingness to drive through whatever pain she may have at this weekend’s Iowa Corn Indy 250. George Phillips over at OilPressure.com has a nice little writeup on De Silvestro, who’s always had herself a nice little base of legitimate race fans but now stands to see it grow bigger as the IZOD IndyCar Series season wears on.
