It is with great sadness we note that the police community has lost another dedicated officer to a fire in a Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor that resulted from a high-speed, rear-end impact.

Officer Christopher Sobieski, 39, was killed around 3:15am on September 26, 2004. Officer Sobieski was parked on the side of Texas highway 290, having just completed a routine traffic stop, when a pickup truck struck the rear of the vehicle, causing it to burst into flames.

Our deepest sympathies are with his family and fellow officers.

You may have heard some sources say that fire resulting from high-speed, rear-end impacts is a non- issue, or that it is blown out of proportion. May we suggest that you take the time to review the facts available on resources such as the Internet. Due to the continued incidents of injury and death, many departments who initially dismissed the problem have taken a second look and opted for supplemental protection for their officers.

Many of you have responsibility for not only your fleet vehicles, but also personnel, policy and countless other duties which occupy every available moment of the day. In spite of this lack of time it is critical that you educate yourself about the danger your officers face daily when they are on the road.

FIRE Panel's motto is "One is too many". We have needlessly lost too many good officers - including this most recent tragedy, 19 officers have lost their lives in this type of accident. We believe many of these deaths could have been prevented had proper fire suppression been in place.

FIRE Panel enhances vehicle safety for this specific, yet frequent, type of accident. While not every rear- end impact results in fire, for under $400 per vehicle an added measure of safety can be put in place to protect those who serve our community.

This summer alone two FIRE Panel-equipped CVPIs were involved in accidents, one of which had significant fuel loss from the tank. In both cases the panel deployed creating an environment where fire could not start.

In two other incidents where CVPIs without FIRE Panels were consumed in flame, the officers have been injured but were fortunate enough to escape.

At present, FIRE Panel is in use by more than 100 agencies across the U.S., including the New York, North Carolina, Massachusetts and Idaho State Police, along with the city of Dallas and Portland police.

For your officers' sake, please take the time to review in detail the facts surrounding fires in CVPIs, fire-suppression options, testing and cost to determine what measures are appropriate for your department.

Visit www.firepanel.com for our testing videos and more information on our product, www.crownvictoriasafetyalert.com for more independent information, or use your favorite Internet search engine and look for information on 'Crown Victoria Fire'.

Then ask yourself - which vehicle you would want yourself or your officers to be in, a CVPI without any enhanced safety, or a FIRE Panel-equipped CVPI?