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Violence/Aggression Against Crews
Do you experience violence or aggression when attending calls? Here in Dublin, Ireland it is a regular occurrence in certain areas of the city. Sometimes they will set a car fire just to lure us in and then throw stones & bottles at the crew. Mindless I know - but it has caused numerous injuries to our firefighters. One recently had to get over 40 stitches to his face and was badly scarred.
We record these incidents within our accident reporting system and have CISM in place also to help if required. How does your department deal with the issue?
We record these incidents within our accident reporting system and have CISM in place also to help if required. How does your department deal with the issue?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Peter Barriscale on
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Hi Kali,
Thanks a million for that information - that's exactly the sort of stuff I'm looking for. I'll check out those links and talk to Vaughn too. I joined the service with his Dad. I'll certainly tell him you said hello.
(Love the "Goddess of Destruction" tag by the way!)
Peter.
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Permalink Reply by Rusty Mancini on
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A few months ago we responded to a medical call of a man that fell and had a head injury. While attending to the man who was under the influence of alcohol, his son came out of the house with a ball bat. While my crew was busy rendering aid not paying attention, I heard someone muttering something and when I turned around and saw the mans son approaching us, luckily for us a deputy had responded with us ,I yelled to the deputy and he drew his weapon and ordered the son to drop the bat!
The son finally complied and was dealt with. He stated he didn't want any one messing with his dad, and he too was under the influence of alcohol, and God knows what ever else! If the deputy hadn't of been there we would of been in a world of crap. This was the first time that I can recall of any violence while on the job. In today's world you have to pay attention out there!
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That was a close call. A lot of the stuff we get here is alcohol related too. Sometimes the bystanders are more of a problem than the patient.
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Permalink Reply by Fireyladd - Retired Chief Sharp on
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Wow! Peter, other then dealing with drunks or getting involved with civil issues we dont see this problem as you've conveyed. Tough job!
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Hi Chief,
Don't get the wrong impression here - we probably don't get any more than in other cities of similar size (1.5 million) and it happens in the same areas all the time. Most of the city is no problem at all. Thanks for your comments.
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Permalink Reply by ashfire on
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I remember responding on a medical call on the ambulance for injuried woman on the street. We got there and she and her boyfriend were both drunk. She had just dropped on the sidewalk and put a bump on her head. Well her drunk brother came across the street and asked my partner and me what had happened. We told him. Well he hauled off and punched the boyfriend in the face and put him down and out on the sidewalk. I have never grabed the radio so fast and yelled our unit number and "POLICE NOW" into it. I don't think at that time we had a "13" button on that one which would have sent the radio's code number to dispatch for emergency.
Well our engine crew heard the call and come flying up the street and then the cops but the brother took off before they showed and never touch us.
But the sister sure gave us a time at the hospital after she got there.
There have been many a time where we had to hold someone down or put someone at bay with tools off the units.
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Permalink Reply by Travis Bowers on
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Law Enforcement is automatically dispatched for us if E-911 sees a danger or if the call meets there protocol to dispatch Law Enforcement.
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Permalink Reply by Shareef Abdu Nur on
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We are very fortunate in my area that most people are glad to see us when we arrive on scene. Even in hostile situations, we identify ourselves as FIRE and not POLICE and even the bad guys seem to know that we are there to help. If situations get out of hand, we always have the Police handle the situation and we take a hands off approach. I have a commtiment to my Department and to the public we serve, but my bigger commitment is to my family. Before I stand in front of a burning home and get pelted with bricks by the very same people who called us, I would return to the apparatus drive a block away, call Police, and return when the scene is under control. This sounds cruel and inhumane, but I have a duty to the families of my crew.
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We're lucky here - haven't been shot at yet. We go to gunshot victims but the bullets have stopped flying by the time we arrive.
If our control thinks there might be a danger of any kind they alert the police and we stand off until they arrive. It's the unexpected ambush attacks that are the problem.
Kali has given me some links to follow for Boston EMS for official statistics on all this - can anyone else give me a link or address where I can get information from other departments?
Thanks
Peter.
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You ain't the only one to have it done to. We picked up a guy trippen and I ended up in the back with him bymyself and he kept grabbing my arm and putting it in his mouth and he was bigger than me. I guess we should have had a cop ride with us. My partner had been a cop before he changed over to being a county firefighter.
The cops back then would have given him a wooden shampoo.
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Permalink Reply by Charles Bowles on
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When we run into incidents like this, we see many warning signs ahead of time that tend to make our "ears prick up".
On medical calls, it could be the very large group of people on scene or the car after car flying in the driveway. Panic spreads like wildfire, and we know it when the flame starts picking up!
We are lucky on the fire side with little to no known incidents of this nature, however when we do encounter them we like to envision ourselves as mounted infantry. When we are overwhelmed we hop into our engine (our imaginary APC) and try to make a path to get out, as we feel more protected in our apparatus.
Ultimately, we don't have an SOP explicitly handling violence or aggression, however what permeates all of our SOPs is safety and with that in mind it will dictate our actions on the fire ground to do whatever it takes to stay safe.
Take care stay safe!
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Permalink Reply by larry jenkins on
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I've been a firefighter for almost 40 years. Back in the 1970's we had some of that during the civil rights demonstrations and when Martin Luther Kings was killed but not recently.
We do have a lot of gang activity in our area. They cause a lot of voilence but it is usually centered around rival gangs. The gangs are brutal with each other. They murder rivals or will cut their limbs off. I work in a lager Korean Community and they have a Korean Mafia that has controlled most of these problems.
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