At the Colorado State Fire Fighters Association’s 2025 Fire College, Chop Shop RX Instructor Randy Wells describes how he identifies Tempered vs Laminate glass on scene.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION:

  Now we gotta get all the glass outta this car before we start. This is tempered. Tempered, right? See how it was wiggling a little bit, not a big deal. If it’s wiggling too much, I’m gonna place my hand here tight, not so that I fall in when it breaks. Just tight enough to hold it in. And then I will strike.

We strike these in the corners. Okay. To break them, I need Jamo can break glass. You need Jamo can cut a glass, but you need to have something on your body to make laminate. When I identify laminate glass, when I hit it with a tool, it’s gonna make a quick star. This is laminate right here, right? So I’m gonna strike it.

Boom. Now I’m in the rubber. Put my saw all blade in, roll through. If I was doing a clam show, didn’t have a saw close by 1, 2, 3, 4,

window out, we’re doing a vertical crush, I’m gonna come in with my left, put my tool, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, two holes right here, place my spreaders in, squeeze, pull the window out, place it back in, and go to work.

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