Firefighter Highway Safety - Putting Your Life On The Line New Updated Video

We've all been on them. Motor Vehicle Accidents on highways or roadways where there is minimal room to pull off the roadway. Why can't people pull over to another lane instead of scaring the daylights out of you because you never know if they are paying attention. After a near miss to me... I asked a California Highway Patrolman why he wouldn't cite someone who narrowly missed me while operating the pumps at the panel. I couldn't have sucked up closer to the panel when a car drove by with an elderly driver. I swear, he never saw me or was cognizant that I was there. Have you had any close calls on the highway?

Trucks are the worse, creating a vacuum as they drive by. I'd like to note here that we were parked as far as we could off the roadway and yet as you can see, there was no way that the apparatus operator could gain access to either the pump panel or get into the cab of the engine...

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Permalink Reply by Frank Svitak on September 1, 2008 at 9:25pm

This is why all 3 of our engines have the top mounted operators panel. Having a side mounted operators panel only puts the operator in more danger. When we get on scene, we park the engine on an angle and take as much roadway as we feel is needed to operate safely. The police have no problems with this because we work with them to get out of the way as soon as poss. & clear the road as quickly as we can. Any time the police balk at you for taking as much road as you need to insure your safety, ask them how much time they want to spend doing reports, being in court, etc. because they forced you to compromise the safety of the scene. Let's face it, our #1 priority is life safety, starting with our own.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Dumser on September 1, 2008 at 11:05pm

Well said, Art. That's how we do it here! F.D. and P.D. need to cooperate. Stay safe!

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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on September 2, 2008 at 12:28am

Chief Goodrich, I'd be honored to work for you anyday. How cool in this day and age to actually have someone to look up to. Thank you. TCSS, Mike

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Permalink Reply by Jason Brooks on September 2, 2008 at 10:33am

I apologize if this has been mentioned already, but 50 posts into this after a long weekend, I can't read them all. That being said, BLOCK THE ROAD!. We park diagonally across the next lane from us in order to give us a clear work area. The police hate it, but in Ohio, the scene is ours until we leave, not theirs. I would rather take a rig out of service due to a looky-loo hitting the side, than going to a LODD funeral for one of my guys getting run over.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on September 2, 2008 at 12:03pm

In California, the CHP are the scene managers for on highway incidents... typically though, they are pretty receptive now to closing down the highway for safety reasons. What makes this work is the fact that I acknowledge the importance of leaving at least one lane open to keep traffic flowing. This "working together" attitude makes all the difference toward creating a positive working relationship between law enforcement and fire. Thanks for your reply! TCSS, Mike

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Permalink Reply by Oldman on September 2, 2008 at 12:20pm

We also have a "move over" law in Texas, and.... well we have the law. The fire department in Texas is the agency with the authority to close the road. We say it and they (LE) do it. Once I put the "Big Red Crossing Gate", (yours may be white or some other color) down, it stays down until I move it.

I did throw a 6 "D" cell Mag Lite into a windshield one night. The driver slammed on the brakes and proceeded to yell at the deputy standing there. The deputy pulled the flashlight out of the windshield, asked me if it was mine, and handed it back to me. He then had the guy pull over and wait until the wrecked vehicles and everybody else cleared the scene. We all got a chuckle out of it. Ok, who am I kidding? We laughed or asses off!