Decked out POVs

Lookin to see some pics of your decked out POVs. I have a 2005 dodge Durango black with a 48in light bar. Generation 3 LEDs blue with an arrow stick on the back of it. Also have grill lights with 48 LEDs each and rear deck lights with 18 LEDs each. Front of the truck has a chrome brush guard also tail light guards. 5.7 l hemi.

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Permalink Reply by Paul White on June 20, 2012 at 1:52pm

My appologies to all for posting this in the wrong category. Not that it hasn't been quite the discussion for some. I will be more careful with my topics.

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Permalink Reply by FETC on June 20, 2012 at 2:02pm

Paul,

I have to agree with Don. I have first hand experience with a POV accident for which my POV was totalled while it was being used for a VFD response. I was responding from home and had to pass the accident scene to get to the FD, so I stopped and parked my pickup truck as to protect the accident scene, got out and went to establish contact and triage the patients. It was winter and the roads were icy. A car had slid off the road and struck a utility pole.

My vehicle was parked in the travel lane closest to the accident, and the local PD had arrived and parked next to me to finish the block. I had red lights that were authorized by my Fire Chief and the PD had their blue lights on.

I drove appropriately for the weather conditions all the way to the scene and parked but another motorist thought they were invisiable to the weather and slid out of control, struck both my truck and the police car. The parked vehicles prevented the vehicle from hitting the injured (textbook) the cop and myself who were tending care. The guy driving said, "sorry" and it was an accident.

Here is where you need to pay attention. My department turned their back on the entire issue, left the damages to the vehicle owner, and my vehicle insurance company almost didn't pay as they were not informed that my POV was allowed to use lights while running as a vollie firefighter. It puts you into a higher risk category. Which I guess, per State Farm back then (20 years ago) you are supposed to notify the insurance agent before the accident occurs.

The other driver who totalled my car went after me for illegally parking in the roadway. The local PD was covered by the town, and because our POV's are not listed on the town's vehicle insurance policy, I was on my own. The PD is allowed to park anywhere in the roadway when operating as an emergency vehicle. My POV not being recognized opened the door for an illegally parked vehicle in a travel way. Insurance companies love to take your cash but will do everything in their power to not pay out on a claim.

So Don is correct, even though you guys sound like you can run lights if you want, the fact is when using them, you are now part of the emergency response and that can be used for or against you. Example, flip the story I gave you earlier and say I killed someone while responding, I have now opened up the FD, The Fire Chief and the Town for a lawsuit because I was responding as an employee (volunteer's are town or company employees) the second the pager goes off.

I have never put another light on my vehicle after that incident, and my wallet was quite a bit lighter after the learning curve ended.

TCSS

Bill (FETC)

www.fetcservices.com

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Permalink Reply by Don Catenacci on June 20, 2012 at 4:12pm

Damn it Paul,

Stop responding to me so I can get out of this topic.

BUT...if you are driving the speed limit, and stopping at all stop signs and red lights...Why do you need a super wacker mobile? Other than palying cop and blocking traffic?

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Permalink Reply by Russ on June 20, 2012 at 8:03pm

I love this topic just because of the controversy it creates. What some of you have to understand is that POV lights is a volunteer thing and in putting them on your vehicle, you take the risk that comes with it.

As for the whacker label, i guess that again is a label you have to live with because thats how some see you. (i see you as just being dedicated). I have guys and gals in my VFD that have bunches and some that have 1 and some that have none.

I disagree that having too many makes you a whacker because the amount of lights does not determine what kind of firefighter you are or how fast the fire will go out...it just means you are "into being a volunteer firefighter" because if you believe that more than one light makes you a whacker, you'd better stay out of ohio because by law vollies can have lights and sirens

What gives vollies a bad name is the genuine wacker who has lights but no affiliation to the fire service at all

When i was a vollie on long island (NY) the cops used to go on what i now call {blue light jihad} meaning that every violation of the laws for vollies had to be prosecuted to the fullest at all times. When it was my turn i was tagged for having a mirror attachment on my fireball2 (which was my only light i had) which the cop said was a violation because the law said i could only have ONE blue light....mirrors were a violation because it multiplied the one light effect...(yes it was a slow day in law enforcement)...i beat it because the law didnt say i "could not" have the mirror attachnment and i was in compliance by having one blue light. but as long as you are in compliance witht the law, there should be no beef

Post 9-11 i have noticed that the police are more on the lookout for whackers and i like that. Where i'm at in florida its a little weird. We have a vollie light law but sometimes the definition for its use becomes a case of cops "making up law" on the spot or as they go along. My favorite story is the cop that wanted proof from a vollie that he was "actually going to a call". (i never got how you can prove to a cop on the side of the road you are going to a call) BUT I cant wait for that to happen to me so i can say. "ya got me officer...that plume of black smoke in the distance....is not really there"

My point is weather you have 1 or 500 lights...."you're only going to the firehouse" and if you stop at a scene its nice to have them to mark the scene and give yourself a margin of protection from traffic (which is what i use mine for most of the time)--but i try to park out of a lane of traffic to avoid getting hit because I know the insurance company would have something to say about that...but if the vehicle was sitting still out of a lane of traffic, i dont see how they could not cover you but i know they could find a way

PAUL, post a video, i'd like to see what ya have!

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Permalink Reply by Derek R. on June 20, 2012 at 8:29pm

So Paul mentions he has a durango with a 5.7L Hemi.

So if the metric system is not used in USA, shouldn't it be....a 1.48 US gallon hemi?...A 12 pint hemi?

A 24 cup Hemi?

Just something silly that crossed my mind. Totally off topic. And absolutely no contribution to the discussion.

Volly's don't need special lights. Sure, some want them, but they're not needed.

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Permalink Reply by 3us8225bsp2fp on June 21, 2012 at 12:12pm

I have one dash light on my car for the sole purpose of warning someone. If I come across a vehicle accident I park my car in the grass and off of the road and use them as another visual warning besides my four way flashers to try to get people to slow down. I don't use them while I am driving.

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Permalink Reply by Don Catenacci on June 21, 2012 at 12:24pm

Okay I am not leaving this topic...it is becoming ridiculous.

Russ,

I have been a volunteer/POC FF for 35 years and I have NEVER felt the need to have lights, sirens, airhorns, or antennas all over my vehicle. To say it is a volly thing is ludicrous because I would wager there are far more vollies that dont have lights than do. It is a look at me thing in most cases, and especially so if you havemultiple lights on all 4 sides of your vehicle. Just like waker t-shirts, just like wacker tatoos, just like wacker bumper stickers.

To say those lights show how into being a volunteer you are in just so wrong I am shaking my head at you right now. You want to show me how into being a volunteer you are go to more outside your department training and get more certifications. By being on committees at your volly FD. By spearheading fund raisers. By bringing forth suggestions and ideas for making the FFs and the department better. No lights on any POV ever made anyone a better anything...

I will say to you exactly what I said to Paul, if you haven't sat down with your insurance agent and told him about your lights and how you operate your vehicle with them, DO IT NOW! Because the multyi-million dollar lawsuit is going to wreck your life when the insurance company says no we don't cover you doing that.

On top of everything else, before I would spend the money on lights I would buy some personal tools, like a side cutters, a Fiscars Utility snips, a 6 way screwdriver, a cable cutter, a good flashlight, better gloves if the department buys low bid, leather boots if the department buys rubber, a personal tool like a Haligan or Fubar if the FD doesn't have them. All things that would make you a potentially better firefighter.

Frankly, if the cops would start nailing all the dumbasses that run ridiculously high speeds when they have those lights on, or those that run stops signs, or pass in no passing zones, or run people off the road (yes, I have seen that done) and on top of a ticket take away the right to run those lights, maybe then it wouldn't be so cool to have them in the first place.

Have fun with your lights...I would never have believed the nonsensical reasoning for them I have seen in this topic.

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Permalink Reply by Russ on June 22, 2012 at 12:29am

respectfully i disagree with you and i think you should accept that norms with respect to vollies and their POV's are different in various places in our country. Since you brought it up i have 33 years total time as paid and vollie and i wont get into an education dipstick check with you but suffice to say that i have graduated from the police, fire & ems acadamies and earned the certifications i possess and leave it at that because getting into a educational discussion is pointless on this topic

respectfully i say again not everything is wacker. Some of it is just plain pride and enjoyment in being a volunteer firefighter.

I know that it does not matter in this topic, but at age 5 when i was told that i could never be a firefighter because i was black has only served to solidify my dedication in adulthood.I have been a lifelong buff and if that makes we a whacker...i can live with it because at least i'm a college educated fire science whacker who possess numerous certifications.

And again i accept your opinion but for you to suggest that i dont participate in my VFD and am more interested in the POV lights causes me to take issue sir. EVERYTHING you typed I do and have done as a fiscal officer in my VFD up to an including taking two associations from the red to the black in one year. At my current age i enjoy doing whati do now which is mentoring and doing the things that nobody wants to do (because we just went from an ISO class 6 to a class 4 department). and doing the little things out of my own pocket sometimes to make the dept better...its what i live for in addition to serving the community which i care about....which includes having fun with my lights

shake your head at me...i will still respect your right to believe and post what you did to me, but i do think that clumping "light lovers" together as wackers is (in some cases misplaced) wackers out there that do a great job and others that give us all a bad name and THAT i do agree with you on is wrong