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Does your department have room for an ERB?
Protype ERB (Emergency Response Bicycle)... There has been so much discussion lately about how we respond to emergencies and how we need to include juniors and seniors with our responses... But we have a problem. One must be at least 18 years of age and possess a valid drivers license to work as a an actual firefighter by state law, any state.
So why fight it. Why not pimp your bicycles to be emergency response bicycles. It's not an original concept. You can see fire bike's all over europe. To be honest, and I am not advocating an entire group of juniors or fire explorers responding to an incident on their bicycles but you need to picture this. How cool would it be to see 20 of these ERB's pedaling up to an incident.
And if you are >18, have a drivers license and have a few screws loose (motorcycles), then maybe this is an option?
Note: This photo sure makes me think of a certain Fire Chief we know and love who works in Oregon... :D
Live the dream! (but be safe doing so...)
TCSS, CBz
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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is that a ramp I see? are you attempting to jump over the pile? sure seems like your having more fun than the rest of us... :D be careful though... you could have been DUST in the wind!
CBz
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What about visibility issues Reg? What about Oldman's stripes? And finally, don't you think that red ERB's are a thing of the past now? You are obviously old school dude.
CBz
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Permalink Reply by Station10Capt106 on
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you know, after this post there is gonna be at least one or two that will actually make their own ERB.
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Permalink Reply by Tony P on
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That Vikara? I'd just love to see that attached to the hydrant we used last Monday - 1800kPa (261 psi).
POP goes the motorbike...
Our ambulance service has the pushbike thing. Complete with red and blue lights and a siren. As has been said, if I tried that thing I'd be the one that needed medical attention! But then, I'm a firefighter, not a medic and that's just how I liike it :)
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Hey Tony, If you are a firefighter and not a medic, what happens with triage in the hot zone, EMS care of your own in IDLH atmospheres? No EMS medic stuff at all? I don't believe it, not an aussie!
CBz
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You may as well believe it CBz - 'cos that's the way it is!
We get 1st Aid training, some few get 1st Responder training (depending on the Station) others have nothing because it isn't mandatory. Injured people in the hot zone? Move them out of it. The ambulance service (one for the State; Ambulance Victoria) have people trained in BA for mass Hazmat jobs, just as the police have.
We are firefighters and that's it - not many would be either willing or able to take on the amount of training needed to be a medic here (in Victoria anyway) - we only have paramedics on ambulances and the thought of three years full-time at university followed by one year of full-time clinical on-the-job work? I don't think so! That applies for the career as well as volunteer firefighters.
Something thought to be a big one? Ambulance responded at the same time as fire. Something turns out to be big? Ambulance are responded. Even the big fires out in the bush have ambulances at them - from the ambulance service.
I think combining fire and ambulance might belong to one part of the world. Though I'm always happy to be proven wrong!
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Ok... I'm with you on how things are very different on your side of the world but not a lot different from the way it was here in the states 40+ years ago. Not having to deal with EMS, and only concentrating on the fire department aspects of the job must create a dream job for you. For this, I am envious. What a wonderful lifestyle you must have. Life is good for Aussie firefighters...
When I first started my career with an ambulance company in the 1970's, fire departments did not necessarily respond to medical calls. Only an ambulance. This also held true around 1980 when I worked as a medic in Fresno, CA. The Fresno FD also did not respond engine companies to medical emergencies. Fire was fire and medical was the ambulance.
Then along came issues involving response times and getting medical help to the public as soon as possible. I think Miami-Dade FD was the first to start using Fire Paramedics, followed by Seattle FD's Medic One program and from there, coupled with the television show, EMERGENCY!, the public became aware of the benefits for having pre-hospital care brought to them and the rest is history. Now, the public expects the fire department to provide EMS. Not every city in the USA has fire paramedics, but larger cities for the most part have programs. One reason for this is the money made through ambulance billing when patients are transported. Regardless, calls that are deemed inappropriate for ambulance crews are routinely handled by firefighters. All firefighters in the state of California possess valid EMT-I certificates and maintain the certification by attending 24-hours of continuing education annually. Many of the areas that the fire service provides coverage is due to the private ambulance companies not being able to make a profit due to low call volume. These areas are served by local fire departments. My community has only so many ambulances which means that if they are on a call, the closest backup can be over 30-minutes away. But we have a lot of fire stations that can get to someone's house a lot faster than an ambulance. It is not uncommon for an engine company to arrive on scene and wait for an ambulance >30-minutes. My department ensures that all fire engines are what is called medic engines, meaning one of the firefighters on duty at a station will be paramedic certified. Needless to say, the fire medics suck up the overtime...
Now for you, and I have no idea what kind of demographics you work and live in, the need for this level of EMS, due to possible remoteness may minimize the need. As you said, the ambulance is always there. If it ain't broken, don't fix it?
How about the big cities? Same thing apply as far as FD's not providing EMS?
I look forward to getting better insight as to how you work compared to my world.
Later, CBz
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Glad to reply CBz. Demographics? I live - and volunteer as a firefighter - in an outer suburb of Melbourne, the second largest city in Australia. Still small compared to many cities at about 4.5 million people but it covers a pretty large area (a look at Google earth helps, remembering that Aus. is a similar size to the USA.)
Ambulance response here is by the one service, State run. There are private companies that do patient transport only, they can be called on in for a large scale disaster, but they are 1st Aiders only - to a higher level than most, but still not paramedics.
The all-career fire service that covers the inner city and about 50% of the suburbs of Melbourne has Emergency Medical Response, that training isn't mandatory, they are responded only for life threatening incidents. The same system is being rolled out in parts of my service (the CFA), both volunteer and career stations but definitely not all 1400 of them! There has been resistance to this by our Chief Officer (the operational head of the service) as he has seen it as an unfair call on volunteer time. But it is happening. The training for this extra service will likely be very little more than I presently have - 'Level 2 First Aid' plus O2 and Defib.
First Aid training? Perhaps three levels here, Lvl 1 being CPR, lvl 2 CPR plus basic scrapes, cuts, bites, stings and fractures, Lvl 3 adding things such as childbirth (I used to be paid an allowance for having that by an employer). Still 1st Aid, nothing more.
In some of our small country towns (those deemed too small to have their own ambulance station) there can be groups of people trained as medical first responder, to provide that little bit of care before an ambulance can arrive. The people doing it are volunteers. Some of them could well be volunteer firefighters in the local brigade, but there is no connection between the two.
Interesting to see the " calls that are deemed inappropriate for ambulance crews are routinely handled by firefighters". That implies low priority calls go to firefighters? If we get low priority calls the 'brown stuff will hit the circulating device' as is often said. We will only be responded as a stop-gap to start work before the ambulance arrives, not as a replacement.
Phew! I need a drink after saying all that! I should be pretty accurate, but I have been known to make mistakes... so if someone wants to correct me, go right ahead :-)
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That's who I was talking about in my third paragraph Stephen, the MFB. They do the EMR response all over their area, not just in the city. For CFA, last I heard the original 6 brigades trialling EMR (3 vol, 3 career) would be joined by others - who I don't know, but I won't be unhappy if mine isn't included!
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Interesting to see the " calls that are deemed inappropriate for ambulance crews are routinely handled by firefighters". That implies low priority calls go to firefighters?
No... It is not that calls are inappropriate for ambulance crews but instead its all about the money. In areas that do not generate a lot of calls, which translates to profits, then the private ambulance companies are selective as to where they provide service unless forced to do so because of contract requirements.
Those areas that are not money makers for the privates, at least in my area are handled by the county fire department and their paramedics. We added paramedic firefighters to most of our engines to enable the public to not have a delay in service level. The ambulance eventually arrives, but there is not delay in patient treatment / stabilization due to the limited number of ambulances. That's why the fire department is there for them. To fill in the blanks where there is no coverage.
We also provide helicopters for rural areas that have a long response time to the hospital. The golden 1/2 hour is alive and real when it comes time to delivering quality emergency medical care. A good example of this is someone having a stroke in a remote area of the county. One of our helicopters can easily lift off, arrive, package the patient and transport to the regional trauma center in less than one-hour from the beginning of the call. Once arriving at the trauma center, we have a new wing of the hospital that was built specifically for removing blood clots immediately and reversing the effects of the stroke.
Amazing medicine nowadays here in SoCal. This is why I find it amazing that there is a difference in opinion. Medical calls are the majority of our responses and it's all about providing the highest level of service for the community.
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Permalink Reply by Loyd Dittfurth on
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oh I am so up for the bike truck I have an old yamaha venture royale I was going to tear it down and make a chopper out of it but that sounds like a WAYYYYYYYYY better idea.
lets see you wouldnt get a large diameter hose because you couldnt carry enough water to facilitate it
mm you could probably fit 25 gallons per side and on the back where it comes together you could put a small pump like a a oh I have an old jumper cable cellar pump its small enough
ok and that puts out a 1 inch discharge so if I Tee it off and make a bypass valve I can choke it down to 1/2 inch and have about 30 ft of half inch ok mmmm
then I could use a nozzle for a garden hose you know the twist kind I would have to make some modifications to it ok well I know how Im gonna do the water and the pump
mmmmm ok I can power it off a master switch hey I still have all the stuff off that police bike my dad bought 2 no 3 years ago
AHHHHHAHHHH I still have the red lights for that and the brackets and the brains of it
ok so I got that and mmmm alright well It has a new back tire on it but I might take that off and put a tire on with a little more tread wait I will need some load resistance on there I mean I am going to be running code 3 here
lets see what else do I need?
a radio YES i still have an old cd player and some 6 x 9 s wait I need one of those for the siren but you can bet that the other will be rocking out to some nickleback
wait scratch that its still got creedance in there from like a year ago oh well that will do
I will get right on this and when I get her done I will have some pictures for you Captain Busy
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Permalink Reply by Fireyladd - Retired Chief Sharp on
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Capt, HOLLY COW!!! I leave for a few days and things go to biosolids. Where did you get the picture of my bike? That thing icks some serious butt. Namely my own. LOL! Oh what the heck. I guess at least if I am known for something good it ought to be about my wheels. I used to have a Captain who carried his turn-outs and gear on his motorcycle and responded as the duty officer that way. Funny thing seeing him buzzing down the road with his gear in a basket on the back of his motorcycle. Nope I am not even thinking about it. My Motorcycle is my means of putting everything behind me and attitude adjustment. A large Metro Dept here in Oregon has Medics running on Motorcycles. Cracked me up thinking of the Juniors pedeling their wheels with lights and sirens. I say they should be RED. Not 18? No Problem! Just pedel there. No need fora stinkin licence. LOL!
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