New 'blocking trailer' is protecting Carrollton first responders

CARROLTON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - A busy highway can be a scary place to stand.

"When you're working a scene, you feel the wind from the mirror of a car on your arm, going 70 miles an hour. It's very unnerving," said Carrollton Fire Chief Michael Thomson.

In the past, his department has used fire engines as barriers to protect emergency crews, but when they get hit, it can take more than a year and a lot of money to fix.

So, Carrollton Fire Rescue came up with a new idea – collaborating with a private company to create a first of its kind mobile barrier specifically for emergency response.

Stretching 68 feet from bumper to bumper, the cab and trailer can easily be positioned in front of a scene where emergency responders are at work.

Carrollton is already dispatching the unit to every crash on the highway.

Crash test video from Mobile Barriers MBT-1 shows how it works when it's hit by oncoming traffic.

"This is designed to absorb the impact and then deflect the vehicle down the long axis of the trailer," explained Thomson.

Within a month of being put to use, the mobile barrier already bears a sign of its success.

Body cam footage taken Sunday shows an officer who'd been working the scene of a crash, discovering another car had hit the barrier.

No one, the department reports, was injured.

"Thank god, I had the rig behind me," the officer tells dispatch.