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 ?
Make sure you look at the stats closer so when you are talking about Pov's the stats are right.
The Light on a Pov has nothing to do with the accident.
I have a letter from NIOSH that says there is not one firefighter fatality caused due to the Light on a Pov.
If you are going by the stat 20 to 25% take the time as I did to break this % down and you will be surprised by what you find in the numbers.
These stats include a junior firefighter on a peddle bike that was hit by a car on the way to the hall, a firefighter was responding to a page and when he got in his Pov in the driveway in front of his house a tree fell on his Pov. If you take a good look at the stats you will be amazed. I have started breaking them down at year 2000 and am working my way up. Take some time and go through them.
With or without Lights firefighters are killed in Pov's and the problems with or without lights are, training, speed, seatbelts etc.
I can't beleive when I hear, guys drive like crazy. When people say this how come I never and I mean never have seen anyone say what happen to the firefighter that was driving crazy. Are guys saying they see this all the time and never report or discipline the firefighter.
Comon someone must have turned a firfighter in.
When someone the runs a light in their Pov says firefighters shouldn't have a light, please. I hear because they are a chief or deputy chief and they have the experince.
I have more driving courses then most guys in our hall do put together and I know I have more then my chief and deputy chief and the argree.
I am not saying I am the perfect driver of all time but please when some is allowed the use of a light to say others shouldn't doesn't make any sense at all.
yes because it halves the response time of ffs to respond because like 90% of vol. ffs are not around and when a call comes in they have to get to the station and then to scene. If they dont have lights then it will take forever to get to the station.
Actualy they will only save you a few seconds at most a minute, there have been many studies done on this. /there are very few true emergencys, and fewer still, that the small amount of time saved will make any difference in the outcome of the call.
In a Department that volunteers respond to the station to respond to calls on the apparatus I would say no. For rural areas where the responders to to the emergency scene there may be reason for it. In my case we do not allow the volunteers to have lights or sirens. A neighboring department allows their volunteers to have lights. Problem is some of them live in my town and our Police do not allow them to use them in town. Check with your State and local laws before going out and buying something that ultimately you can not use.
i have more lights than some of the app and i pay for all of it if there is a true emergency then we should have them wether you are a chief or a firefighter and it also ensures and swift response
in my deparment we arent allowed to run lights on our POV until our probation is up. we run red/red red/clear clear. we also run sirens. All of the POV's have to pass ohio state inspection and have a state inspection sticker on them. the only time i use them is when im going to a mva with entrapment or a stucture fire. the need for them is not always there. In some cases it is there tho.
GREAT TOPIC, WHERE IM FROM YOUR ALOUD TO RUN RED/RED OR RED/WHITE...BUT WITH THE LIGHTS YOU ALSO HAVE TO RUN SIREN. RUNNING LIGHTS AND SIRENS IN YOUR POV IS A PRIVLEDGE NOT A RIGHT. YOU ARE ASKING THE RIGHTA WAY NOT TO TAKE IT. THEY ALSO DONT MEAN THAT YOU CAN RUN 140MPH DOWN THE INTERSTATE EITHER...I LIVE IN RURAL WEST VIRGINIA, AND WHEN THE TONES DROP, I CANT SAY THAT I ALWAYS DRIVE THE LEGAL SPEED LIMIT WITH LIGHTS AND SIREN WHICH IS 10MPH OVER, ESPECIALLY WHEN THE CALL IS A WORKING STRUCTURE FIRE OR A CARDIAC ARREST. BUT AS LONG AS THE PRIVLEDGE IS NOT ABUSED, LIKE RUNNING CARS OFF THERE ROAD OR RIDING GRANNYS ASS ALL THE WAY UP THE ROAD UNTIL SHE HAS A HEART ATTACK THEN PASS HER, I DONT SEE WHY VOL FIREFIGHTERS CANT RUN LIGHTS AND SIREN.....
In one word............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................NO
Permalink Reply by Adam on April 19, 2009 at 10:56am
Were i am at we are a combo department an it helps with are responds time with vols. having lights an sirens but i personally think that its up to the chief to deside if they can have them or not. To me it makes no differance.
I am a volly and a paid ff. I was a volly long before I ever got hired. With that said, In Indiana we are aloud blue in the front and sides and red in the rear. I personaly dont run any lights on my pov. I dont even turn on my hazard lights. (4 way flashers) I see it all the time where guys fly through intersections, either traffic lights and or 4 way stops. I can only imagine how they would drive with a siren on as well. In Indiana we also have to follow all traffic laws. The "blue" light is only a courtisy light so if a FF comes up to a red traffic light and everyone yeilds him the right of way he may proceed. If the dont he has to wait untill he has the green light. If I as a FF am following the traffic laws and abaying the spped limit I really shouldnt catch up to to many other vehicles on the road. So I dont see the need for a siren... So I guess my vote would be for lights only.. the only reason I say lights is if a FF respondes to a scene he will have some visiblity to other vehicles while parked on the roadway or something.