The Social Network & Community JUST for Firefighters
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
-
Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
-
Dave,
Here is where I misunderstood you to be a cop, "I have run lights and sirens when I worked with law enforcement in Fl." Sorry but that seems to imply you were a cop, but in reality you're just (or were) a security guard.
As to you continued effort to promote your reckless driving, in a just earlier post of yours you indicate that it's okay to drive 50 mph on a gravel road. Seriously? And you don't think that's at all dangerous?
You have less than one year as a firefighter and you think you know enough and are competent enough to have to be there ASAP? Sheesh. And you say "...we travel up to 70 miles to a seine in the trucks..." so what exactly do you think you're going to find at the end of that 70 mile merry adventure? At 70mph it would still take you an hour to get there, unless you have some kind of jet rockets on your engines.
And your lieutenant tells you to speed and run red lights? You do know of course who is going to be responsible when you get into an accident right? You! Your lieutenant is probably going to deny ever having told you to speed, it's call cover your ass and I bet he'll be doing a whole lot of then when you crash.
-
Permalink Reply by Marty O'Connor on
-
Northern NY,
I dont think lights & sirens should be used by firefighters at all, unless you are in a piece of fire apparatus responding to a true life threatening emergency. Blue lights are abused so bad in NY, people drive horrible when the light is on. The only blue light that should be used/displayed should be on the rear of all fire apparatus and thats it!
-
Permalink Reply by Forsaken Firefighter on
-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_iJXJA5x_I This was the video I ment to post.
-
-
See the lights are different colors in New York then what I am use to.... If I am right the police use red do they not? When I was in Fl. Police used blue, Fire used red, EMS used amber and red, and Wild life used green. When I moved up here to KS. it screwed me up because there is no set colors for any one. Hell there is a wrecker in town that has red and blue lights. As for them being abuse I would say put there call numbers on the car so they are visible so the public can call and complain or the cameras would know who it is, and the first time they are abused take the privilege away from that person....
-
Permalink Reply by Doyle on
-
Hell there are non fire and ems people that drive crazy. I think your department should make there own judgement on the personel they have. Where is the proffesionalism in all this lights and no lights? If one cant follow the rules and regs of the department then you get rid of him or her and put someone that can do the job. If you have a medic and all he can do is start IV's are you going to keep him around just in case you need one? No you fire his ass and get someone thats can do the full package. Pretty cut and dry. I drive slower running non-code than I do with all my gadgets on, so does this mean everyone should run lights all the time?
-
-
We do run lights and sirens when we get toned out unless they tell use to downgrade the response that is our S.O.P. As for the the lights or no lights thing it is to see what other people think about the subject. Why it was started I do not know but it was so.... We can have lights and sirens in our P.O.V.s if the chief, sheriff, and commissioner sign off on it. We also have to take a driving course to do that as well.
-
Permalink Reply by Justin on
-
I think lights and sirens are a number 1 reason volunteers look bad to both the public and career guys. Yeah we all do the same job but like Ralph has said before, too many people driving like asses for what? To save a few minor seconds. If someone was saving the amount of times stated by Dave, 4 - 22 minutes, then that must be a long ride which I'm assuming is rural meaning if you just drove without the lights sirens and hard on you'd probably still make it. I still make it to the station through multiple traffic lights and driving at a moderate speed WITHOUT lights or sirens. 50% of the reason why I removed my lights are because of the general attitude towards them, and the other 50% is because I conducted a study myself analyzing response times, and only saving a few seconds driving like an ass with lights. All in all, lights and sirens saving significant time is just a mental thing. Slow down and do the job you're there for, who did you help if you got hurt in your response?
-
-
We are rural but our stations are in town and on the out side of town as well. We have 6 trucks and when some one is cleared to drive they usually only get cleared to drive 2 of the 3 brush trucks. and only a few can drive the tankers and the pumper. So if we do not get to the station on time the trucks might be gone with one personnel on board. We are told only to wait 3-5 minutes before leaving the station if the truck is not full. The max capacity for the truck I respond in is 4 and most of the time it only has two. The other trucks can hold 2 and 3 personnel. We can respond P.O.V. as long as it is not a all the time thing....
-
Permalink Reply by Scott Baublitz on
-
It is funny how all the negative comments talk about how crazy the drivers are and how they should not be able to have lights and sirens in there POV. However it is OK for the same guy to drive an apparatus with lights and sirens on. If you can't trust them with a $20,000 car why would you trust them in a $50,000 + apparatus? The other thing I hate reading on here, or hearing it in general, is how it is not any faster driving emergency traffic. If that were the case take the lights off the Engine and take the $2,500 "Q" off the bumber and spend it on training or SCBA. But, you won't see that......Because it dose NOT make sense!
Don't get me wrong I don't believe everyone needs to have lights and sirens on there POV. But if you have someone who has been in the department for a while, knows what is going on and is checked off to drive appearatus, let them drive there POV emergency. It would help them slow down in the long run. Instead of sitting in traffic for 10 minutes trying to get to the station then feeling like they need to make up for lost time they would already be doing everything they can to get there.
-
-
Scott,
You're presuming that the POV's are worth as much as $20,000. would presume they are worth a lot less than that, maybe by as much as 80% less.
Not sure what kind of rigs your department has but our rigs start at $250,000. Like Jeff pointed out, anyone swinging axe can bring his POSV to a call, what kind of mechanical condition is it in? Is it insured? Is the driver old enough be responding to an emergency?
The reason we don't take warning devices off of the rigs is so that traffic can be alerted and move over which allows us to continue more or less unimpeded. You can make the scene without having to speed by dint of traffic moving for you, thus the warning devices.
Anyone that feels they need to "make up for lost time" by speeding is NOT someone you want driving with lights and sirens, it would only encourage them to be even more reckless.
-
Permalink Reply by Daniel Contreras JR. on
-
I've challenged my guys with this..... fastest response times are seconds faster @ best. I myself am not allowed to run lights or sirens in a non-emergency vehicle, in the state of CA. I can't justify endangering citizens on the roadway to get to another person in need. I go code 3 in department rigs only. Guys that go racing around like that need to be put to work on the highway for awhile.....I have learned to respect the privledge and I've seen enough on interstate 101 to know better. it takes dicipline.....Pediatric calls make me wanna do 80 mph POV... forget the station ,but i don't.....i like the lights red/clear and sirens for white helmets.
Thanks
-
Permalink Reply by Ken Swain on
-
In Nevada, no volunteer is allowed to use a light on their POV. The apparatus have lights and sirens, but they are properly licensed and insured, and for the most part are covered under a local government. The volunteers are to conform to all traffic laws while enroute to their stations.
© 2024 Created by Firefighter Nation WebChief.
Powered by
