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relationship between highway patrol and the fire dept.
our department has over all had a good relationship with the thp. but latley within the last year or so we have gotten some new troopers and they have a new supervisor. just tonight we had a tractor trailer fire on the interstate. the chief arrives and shuts down the interstate for firefighter and public saftey. when thp arrives he demands that the road be reopened. the tca code says any road in the state can be shut down for saftey buy the highest ranking fire offical on the scene if deamed necessary. i dont see why these new officers cant respect we are just trying to do a good job and control the scene and protect everyone involved, its not like we just go out on any road and shut it down for our health we have much better things to do!!!! are we having this problem everywhere? are our brothers being threatned to go to jail trying to keep our fellow comrads safe? this is an outrage that we should have to put up with sutch garbage from someone who needs to do his or her job and keep the public off of us so we can do ours safley. all i can say is take me to jail but you better have a hell of an atturney and some deep pockets cause im gonna take you to the cleanners if arrested due to shutting the road down!!!!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mary Ellen Shea on
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Kudos Kristy....
FASNY has training materials available to our member departments (volunteer) in NYS, including the VFIS Highway Safety for Emergency Services. It covers the basics, including the do's and "don't even think about it" of scene staging and personnel safety. It's standard common sense, but as we all know...that can sometimes fly out the window when the adrenaline is surging.
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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Funny, but I just switched our FD insurance to VFIS because of the many outreach programs that they offer.
Drivers' ed was one of the biggies.
Art
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Permalink Reply by Joe Brooks on
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I don't know where you live, but here in Oregon if Fire/EMS says the roads closed then, THE ROAD IS CLOSED!
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Permalink Reply by Danny on
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Our dist had problems for awhile with the state patrol. It took a while and some arguments over why a lane should be shut down and why this and why that..Well it comes down to communications. The chiefs of the dist and then the Chiefs of the local branch of the state patrol got together and said hey this is what we do and now what do you do. So they all worked together and communicated and came up with an understanding and now we all work well together.
I mean geeze thats why god made cops was so firefighters would have a hero lol..sorry had to throw that in just cause my brother is a cop.
So in conclusion the big cheeses need to get together and talk so that everyone knows what their roles are and then take it back to the rest of the dept so they also know what goes on and how everyone should function. When it gets taken back to the rest of the dept make it a training sesson. Have the local troopers come in that work that area, so you have an idea who they are and they are also familiar of the FD crew and that way everyone is on the same page.
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Permalink Reply by Andrew Robertucci on
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A dept i ran with a while ago had a problem with rookies transferd to the area. we had a road shut down for a crash. when psp arrived he wanted the road opened imediately. When the chief tried to talk to him the trooper threatened him with fines and arrest. So since the ambulance had finished loading the pt's we packed up our toys and left. About 15 minutes later the county dispatched firepolice for the same incident. None responded. Apon arrival at the station the phone was ringing it was the trooper in charge of our local barricks wanting to know what was going on, why we left the scene ect. after a meeting with him and our chiefs things changed really quick.
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Permalink Reply by Brad Dietlin on
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In my city we have a very good relationship with the PD(it helps that the PD Chief is also the Rescue Chief!) and the SO. There are some officers that sometimes throw a tizzy but they understand that shutting the road down is for our saftey as well as theirs. At least here in NE, an accident scene is the FD's until we turn it over to the police when we leave. My dept. really doesn't really deal with the NSP that much so we really don't have a problem with them.
Stay safe and wear your reflective gear on the roads!
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Permalink Reply by lloyd on
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The same is true here, HP is just interested in getting "their" highway opened back up. In our state, if there is a fatality, the coroner has to be called as it becomes a crime scene, and the highway may be closed til he or she shows up.
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Permalink Reply by Jason Black on
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We have had some minor problems with the NCHP, we were responding to a working fire and a new trooper pulled one of our guys over in the fire department parking lot. I was in the first out engine and as I pulled out of the station with my lights flashing; the trooper stood in front of me and blocked me from moving. He came up to the window and asked if the guy he had pulled over was in the fire department and asked if we really had a fire. I told him yes he was in the department he has a tag on the front of his vehicle and his red light is flashing. He then said were is your fire. I said look beind you up the road, see that huge column of black smoke. He said oh ok and let us both proceed. He followed us to the fire and then turned around and left.
I have zero tolerance for firefighters speeding going to a call, so I asked the firefighter why he was pulled over. He said the trooper pulled him over because he was running his red light and a car pulled over for him and he went around.
Well about 2 weeks after that we had a tractor trailer verses car accident. It was 30 degrees and the rain was freezing on contact with the ground. As we were moving the patient to the ambulance the rain was freezing on our helments and we had to keep knocking off the icecicles so we could see what we were doing. That same trooper showed up and requested us stay on the scene and assist with traffic until the wreckers cleared up the mess. Well, I decided to take the high road and sucked up my feelings from 2 weeks ago. We stood out there and directed traffic on this busy highway for over one hour. The trooper did his investigation and the road was cleared up. We cleared the scene and returned back to the station. As we were cleaning up, the trooper came back to the station and said thank you for staying and helping with traffic. This presented a good time for me to sit down and discuss some things with him over a nice hot cup of coffee. I told him that if one of my guys was speeding and driving reckless enroute to a fire, please light him up. Safety is number one for everyone. He stated that were he was stationed before the fire departments were a bunch of red-necks runing 100mph to dumpster fires and cats in a tree. I explained that is not the way it is here. He said he is understanding that now and it will take him some time to adjust.
After that we have never had another problem with any of our troopers. If we see them out, I tell them the code to both our fire departments and tell them to help themselves to the phone, drinks, water, bathrooms, etc. Our relationship is wonderful. As far as blocking roads, I will not ever think twice about shutting the road down to protect one of my firefighters. I will however, make every effort to provide traffic direction at each intersection they have to travel during the detor and open up the main road as soon as possible. In NC it is in black and white, the senoir fire officer has control of the road until it is released. I have never had to bow-up and use this. Most of the time when the trooper arrives on the scene, I will brief him on the situation and include him in the decision making. Sort of like unified command. We have had 2 troopers in the county hit on accident scenes in the past and if they respond. They will ask me why we have not closed the road and request we shut everything down. I guess 3 months in the hospital will change peoples view alittle bit.
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We have an excellant relationship between our local police and state and county, the problem exists between residents of our village and our volunteers. Only the fire apprutus are allowed to run lights and sirens and the volunteers have to run 4 way flashers. The "retired" people here instead of moving over, think we have our flashers on by mistake and will turn theirs on to send a message, or like I had one woman slow to a crawl and then brake suddenly. When I finally got a spot to pass, she call the fire chief and reported me for speeding, driving recklessly, and using lights. She was traveling at 35 mph in a 50 mph zone. It probably seemed fast to her! Too bad it wasn't her house on fire.
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Permalink Reply by fireman13549 on
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I think that all pd and fd should get along because one day we could be saving there life or they could be saving ours you never know
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Permalink Reply by Everette on
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I know how you feel, where i live we have a barracks that gets new guys at least once a year if not more, the cocksure straight from the academy spit and shine trooper. But we were fortunate at my dept to cave a local Corp. who got to know us and gradually alot of the guys who have stuck around have been great, Often stopping by the station for a min. And we have noticed the attitudes of alot of the younger guys have smoothed out after a while. As far as the interstate deal, that is just a cop thing all around, they will push to get it open as soon as possible because while they are breathing down your neck they know the people higher up are going to make their life hell for every second that road is closed. All you can do is just smile, get done what you have to due, and remember we are all on the same team at the end of the day.
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Permalink Reply by isaac on
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i agree with you my fellow brother/sister the patrol dont know jackshit about us firefighters and why we shut the roads down at times i feel like telling my comrads to lets just pack up and tell the other deparmnets not to respond and let the troopers deal with it all
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