On 09/19/19 at 0930, while driving the helitack support truck I429435 on Co Road 231 near Flagstaff AZ. en route to H7 on the Whiskey Fire. The driver of the truck slowed down as he approached a logging truck.The driver looked into the side mirror to insure the other vehicle traveling with thew was still in sight. Driver noticed the spare tire and assembly lying on the road approximately 50 feet behind the truck. Driver pulled over and retrieved the spare and assembly and loaded them in the back of the truck.
The failure in the spare tire assembly was due to the sheering of the main assembly pivoting shaft.
The main concern of this failure would be for the spare tire and metal assembly to come off while traveling down a busy road and coming into contact with other vehicles on the road, or falling of and not being noticed by the driver resulting in being debris left in the road way creating a hazard to other drivers.
The Spare tire and assembly together weigh approximately 125 Lbs. so if the item were to come into contact with a moving vehicle it could cause significant damage.
This is not the first incident with this system failing in a related report another government vehicle on the same district with plate number I620749, had their spare tire and tire assembly sheered the same way as in the above description. In the instance another government employee witnessed the tire fall off hit the road and bounce into the air and come to rest 100 plus feet off of the road way. |
