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Volunteers with Lights and Sirens
What do you think, should volunteer firefighters be allowed to have and use lights and sirens in their POV ? Should only the Chief an ASST. Chief be allowed to have them ?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jeffery W. Jackson on
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Me personay My insurance company is not going to cover me if i get into a acident . why risk it? in the state of florida workers comp only covers us on scene ,in the station or on the appratus. i incourage my personel to hop on apparatus. They all dont do it ,but they do know the liabilty responding on p.o.vs
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Permalink Reply by Art Sutherland on
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Now this is where I get mixed up. I read this statement sometimes, The Liabilty Responding in Pov's. After a long talk with my insurance company and letting him read a lot of comments about responding or not in Pov's this what he said.
If I belong to a Volunteer Fire Department and when my pager goes off and I head to the Department or call if the trucks are gone I am responding in my Pov no matter what anyone thinks. He would like to know how anyone can say a Volunteer Firefighter is not responding when it is the only thing you can do when the pager goes off and you get in your Pov to go to the Department or Call. He said that my insurance would cover me as long as I am not classed as an Emergency Vehicle. If I was allowed to respond with a the use of a Coutesy Light he said it still would not make a differents with insurance only if they class us as an Emergency Vehicle.
In his words, there is only one way we can answer to the page unless we are standing at the Department and thats in our Pov's. Makes sense to me and he is the guy that covers me with my Policy.
Just telling what he says and this is what I have been trying to say to the Fire Service, we are responding in our Pov's every time the pager goes off and this means with or without a light (Emergency or Courtesy Light).
Art
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Permalink Reply by chief 3 on
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In michigan we can run with red and white and must have a siren only if your chief gives the o.k. As long as you dont think your a cop with your lights its a good thing to have to get to the hall a little faster. But be safe and not stupid.
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Permalink Reply by Russell McLean on
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In klein(Northwest Harris County, Houston area)only cleared drivers are allowed to have lights and sirens(you must have both). There is a 360 degree coverage required, and it must be approved by a Chief or Deputy Chief, and then only after you have been cleared for a year. You are only allowed to go POV if the call is in your station's first due area. The problem we run into, especially with some neighboring departments, is that if a lot of their members go POV to a scene, it clogs up the area and command cannot get additional units into the scene. This is a particular problem if it a rural or unhydranted area with limited access. Personally, I'd rather have the manpower on the truck, and be ready to fight when you get there.
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Permalink Reply by Andrew Kersten on
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I think all volunteers should have and use lights and sirens granted that they are trained in how to use them and are mature enough to use them.
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Permalink Reply by Brad Mallory on
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I live in a small town..only 3 stop lights in out town, but im on a rural firedept and when im enroute to a fire and im running my lights(red/clear) and siren the general public are real good about pulling over and letting us get to the station...The city fire dept had some young guys abusing the lights and sirens on their POV and the city chief has denied all city firefighters to have only flashers on......So if your dept uses the lights in a emergency response ONLY and understand the lights and sirens let the public know you are "REQUESTING" the right of way and it dont GIVE you the right of way..then I feel the lights/siren helps in response time tremendously......
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Permalink Reply by Moose on
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Well, I didnt read the ENTIRE 19 pages of replies, but, I thought the law (In NYS anyway) stated that only Fire Chiefs and ALS providers could run with reds/sirens??? All other members of the department could run 1 (ONE) 65 watt blue light on their vehicle as a courtesy light only. YET...you always see the whackers with the 50 blue strobes on just about ANY surface they can mount one on, and every time they respond they leave a trail of epileptics in seizures...their trucks, usually modified with extra batteries and electronic equipment to handle the excess load, are usually one big strobe light...Why??? I have one dash light in my wifes car and one small bar light on my suburban and they usually never get turned on at all and I get to the station every time, and make a truck about 90% of the time.
If the truck leaves before I get there, than someone is already helping out, if they need more help the chief will call the station and request it. Otherwise the scene gets choked with POV's and it becomes a logistical nightmare for the safety officer to account for everyone.
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Permalink Reply by John L. VanAuken on
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I have to agree with the majority of the posts. Here in Idaho you are allowed to run lights but not sirens, however our dept does not allow lights due to liability. For one to many think that just becouse they have a light, they think that they can run a stoplight or stop sign. Also if couse an accident, you not only take yourself out of service, but also it makes the dept one less person for the call. It also deverts other responders to the accident you just coused, that could be helping on the original call. So to answer the Q I feel it should be up to the depts rules as also the state laws. I use my four ways and just play it safe, if they move out of the way for me then great, other wise I wait till I can pass safely.
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D. T. have too agree this one has been here before.
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Permalink Reply by BillySFCVFD on
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One or two blasts of double ott buck oughta do it but then again I''ll call in an air strike. TCSS
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You know whats funny...those of you complaining the most are the ones responding the most...HUH...Go figure.
Learn to laugh boys and not take things so seriously, everyone is here to talk about things, not just you, take a look at the membership totals. Sorry if you are done with this and others are not.
Take care guys.
Moose
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Permalink Reply by Greg Gilman on
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I have no problem with volunteer emergency personal running lights and sirens on there povs i have lights on my truck but in Michigan if you run alight on your pov you have to have a siren as well the only colors you can run is red or red white. you must also obey ALL traffic laws as well the only problem that i have are the tow trucks that use red lights because there not emergency vehicles as far as I'm concerned the only color they should be able to use is amber if they want to use red then it should be a split of red and amber
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