Red Lights in POV when responding to the station

About 2 years ago out village board banned all members except Chief and Asst Chiefs from using red lights in their POV's inside the village limits while responding to the station(We do not allow anyone other than the officers to respond to the scene in private vehicles). Now we have had a couple complaints about outside the limits, so now seeing they are on the clock(so to speak we are volunteers) for the village as soon as the pager goes off the board is going to ban them for all firefighters outside the village(again except for the Chiefs). I'm looking for other dept or governing boards policys and protcols.

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Permalink Reply by brandon glander on September 18, 2009 at 9:23pm

up here the volenteer departments officers can use red and blue only with a siren. the village the district protects will endorse the use and then the county will endorse the use for county wide response. but you have to take an emergency vehicle responce class thru the police acadamy prior to all endorsments

and as for pick and choose illinois has a all or nothing law use the lights u must use the siren

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Permalink Reply by Marvin Hawk on September 20, 2009 at 3:36pm

I'd check with your state DMV I would think that the village doesn't have the authority to set any type of V&T rules other than speed and parking within the village. but I may be mistaken....as I am never wrong.

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Doney on September 21, 2009 at 8:47pm

Here in SC the state law allows lights and sirens for vols. The colors are red and clear and amber. Blue is law enforcment only. The county SOP's state that we have to have highest point and 360 covered, and an audible siren.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew on September 28, 2009 at 11:22pm

I fully agree with this. Lights and sirens on a personal vehicle are another tool utilized by volunteer firefighters/EMTs. Using these tools allow us faster response times, generally. Of course these tools should be used in accordance to protocol and should never be abused in any fashion.

I feel like lights on a POV definitely help me get to the station. My station is about a mile(ish) away, and there is generally heavy traffic (depending on the time of day). My lights help me get through traffic and to the station faster, allowing my response time to be increased to get to the emergency itself. Remember, we're responding to an EMERGENCY... all the time saved can make a difference.

My fire department allows us to run emergency lights. Of course we must obey all traffic laws (no running red lights or stop signs), and we must use Due Regard. Sometimes if the streets are clear I'll go through a red light if I can definitely tell that there's no chance of me getting into a MVA.

We cannot use red lights in the front, but may use them in the back. We cannot have sirens, although I believe that is stupid since it would decrease the chance of responders getting into accidents. Lights and sirens should always go hand-in-hand, but that's just my opinion.