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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 Luke Summers on
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I think they should if they follow local guidelines. Where i am at you have to be on the dept for 6 months before you can even think about getting them. We can only use them to get to the station, we cannot go direct to a call. We can also only use them in the city limits. Our rules are pretty basic only 10 miles over the speed limit, stop at all stop lights and signs before proceding through. IF you abuse it you loose it. You also have a good chance of getting kicked off the dept for a major infraction.
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Permalink Reply by Chad Furr on
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Our vol dept has no one with lights and sirens on POV's Chief will not sign off on it.
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Permalink Reply by Scott Baldwin on
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In New York State you are allowed blue lights for Vol. in their POV,but you still have to respect the traffic rules. There are some Volunteers that even go over board with that so giving them lights and sirens would be way too much.
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Permalink Reply by Robert on
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I run Red lights and a siren per state law. In michigan if we have a red light it must be 360 coverage and we must run a siren. The laws are pretty open on just how we achieve maximum coverage. I personally run a red mini bar up top as well as wigwags and strobes up front. I am also playing with the idea of strobes in the rear now that I have a fullsize van. But I always run according to the state and local laws regarding light and siren use. We only briefly had a problem a couple rookies and a cadet that thought he could run code as well. That was quickly stemmed by the majority. And since we have not had any problems. I know I will catch hell for this but in my opinion I believe that as long as we are responsible adults and not punk kids then yes we should be able to run lights and sirens.
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Permalink Reply by Tony Owens on
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Yes All Volunteers Should Have Some Lights And For More Safty Add A Siren. I Have On My Truck 4 Led Light And Wigwags On Front And 4 Strobes In The Back Also Have A Sirens Too. I Thank More Lights And Sound Is Better Then One Light And No Siren. I Have To Drive 2 Mile To The Station From My House To Go On Calls Unless It Is On My Side Of Town.
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Permalink Reply by Fire Chick on
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just lights... i know alot of places around here allow chiefs and asst chiefs to use sirens, but i dont think the r needed
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Permalink Reply by Randy Bawks on
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You also have to think about what would happpen if you broke a traffic law while running lights and sirens in your POV, and killed someone. On our dept. once you add lights and siren(required by state law to have both)on your POV your vehicle is now an emergency vehicle just like your engine or tender.I'm not sure who would end up being sued you or the township or both, and I don't think our township board knows either, so they adopted no lights or sirens period. I also think that there are a lot of people who get the call and don't think clearly. We had a few months ago one of our young guys run a stop sign and about T-bone another responder(who had the right of way)on their way to the hall. There are a lot of us who are responsible enough to have lights and siren, but there are a lot of us who are not and I dont think it is worth people being killed for an irresponsible responder going to a down power line.
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Permalink Reply by shawn on
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ok, here is my opinion. I think that we can all agree that by the looks of some peoples statment, it seems that every has a different guid line. Where I live in PA, we run blue with no siren, this is strictly a CURTOUSEY LIGHT. no MV laws may be broken at all and nobody has to pull over. All this states is " hey i'm on my way to an emergency". Now, ANY Cheif officer is allowed to run RED and SIREN, and they must operate with due regard at ALL times. But everyone has just as important of a job to as them. Now, I'm not sure about other states, but around here we have alot of out of towners in from NJ MD NY OH VA. Heck i know of ppl that have lived in PA for years and still dont know what to do and not everyone understands what each color means. This is what I think should be done.... The Federal DOT, thoes of you that don't know what that is, this is the Dept. of Transportation that governs us commercial drvers, like tractor trailers. They should sit down and come up with a universal color nation wide and the siren thing should be left to them. And a unerversal should be made for law enfocement as well, just to eleminate ant confusion and to eleminate the imposters. I know that I hate it when I go to VA and need to cover or take my light off my truck b/c the state troopers run all blue. It wont be that hard to inform ppl nation wide, look at how fast ppl find out the the president sgined a stimulis bill or extended unemployment. get the idea? I just think everyone should have the same right to respond to a call the same way. and for thoes insurance companies that want to increase the rates just for a light on a POV, well either pay it or dont run it, as nasty as that sounds. So now what is everyones take on that idea?
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Permalink Reply by Bobby King on
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I believe that Firefighters should be allowed to run lights and sirens only if they have went through a successfully passed a Fire commission approved EVO Course ... My Vol. Department also requires that Vehicles be inspected and checked off once a year as long as Responders are using Due regard I see no problem with the Responsible use of emergency equipment .. now.. that being said There are some out there that tend to give all of us a bad name.. those that bust intersections.. drive way too fast for the conditions .. these are the folks that are going to get somebody killed one day ..
Stay safe .. its a Jungle out there
Sgt. Bobby J. King
Madison Co Div of Emergency Services
Firefighter Rescue Tech/ EMD
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Permalink Reply by Art Sutherland on
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Just wondering what was done to this Firefighter that ran the stop sign.
Art
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