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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 dj lee on
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I think they should. Here were I live running lights and siren people usually pull over to the side of the road with makes our response time a lot quicker. Most of the people respect what we do so they will oull over. If you don't have a light or siren they will NOT pull over at all.They think that it's some sort of a game or something. Our lights have to be visible 360 degrees to go through any intersection with traffic lights. Our sirens will change the traffic lights for us most of the time. our lights have to be red red/white due to our laws. Police lights are blue here. But anyway good question.
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Permalink Reply by rfd2us on
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Our department policy is that only officers and personnel that can operate the apparatus can use them. This change was made a few years ago with some issues that had come up, and we felt this was the best way to address it. Anyone that wants to have the emergency lights and siren must comply with the state laws and complete an application process for them. The application process involves the station officers approving them and then the Asst Chief must also sign off on them and finally the Fire Chief.
This was the most effective way we had found to monitor and "control" who from our department uses the emergency lights and siren.
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Permalink Reply by Lee Jones on
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Like I said policy training personal responsibility. Like all things in the fire service were not all going to agree on how things should be done but Its given a interesting perspective on how things differ greatly from state to state. Be safe all.
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Permalink Reply by Tom Huguenin on
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I think they should have lights just to let people know that something serious is going on, plus at my station if you want to have lights you need to be at least 18 and you must get registered with the state of PA. Also there are only 4 people in our station that are allowed to run red lights.
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Permalink Reply by Wilsy on
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I think lights are handy to have it helps other people know an emergency is happening and for the most part people will get out of your way. Although I had one person that wouldn't get out of the way for about 4 POV's coming along behind him and as we got to the station and had the trucks going at the fire scene it turned out to be his house. Sirens should be reserved for chief and deputy POV's in my personal opinion.
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Permalink Reply by shawn on
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well I think all these concerns are valid. However, here in PA, vol. ff and ems run blue, except cheif line officers and cap. and lt. of fire police. Blue is just a curtousy, and have no special privliges, But how many people do we know that drive like they do.And the bigger concern is.. Look at how people drive their POV's... What do you think the do behind the wheel of a Big Red Truck?? Scarey thought huh? But if you look at the laws pretaning to emergency vehicals in PA, it also states that they too need to obey the laws as well, and respond with DUE REGARD!!! But on the flip side of this coin..... If all emergency personell were alowed to respond using light and sirens, Mabey it would cut down some reckless driving, knowing that the general public knows " Sirens and lights move to the right" And what it really comes down to, is we are all trying to get to the same place at the same time, and all of our jobs are just as important as the higher rankes.
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Permalink Reply by FIRE BEAR on
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IN MICHIGAN A POV CAN HAVE LIGHTS AND SIRENS BUT ITS UP TO THE CHEIF WHO GETS TO DO SO BUT YOU HAVE TO CERTIFIED TO DRIVE A TRUCK ALSO THATS HOW HE DID OUR STATION
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Permalink Reply by Todd Caulkins on
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I think they are a good aid if used responsibly. It is my belief that probationary members should not be allowed access to these lights until adequate training and real life responses in a apparatus have been achieved. Chief officers should have the last say after probation has ended. I have taught students who have come up to me during break and ask me what type of light I use. I tell them I don't. (Which is kind of a fib, because I have a talon led on the dash but have only used it 3 times in the last 4yrs.) They ask how I get to the station. North on Vine, West on Elm.
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Todd, i do agree with you on this point, but to an extent. Alot of companies have a probationary period, not just for Junior firefighters but for senior firefighters as well. And many companies also have different terms to what a probation period is. Some like you explained and some like our's.... For example... I have been a vol. ff for 12 plus years, and I was considered a probie for 60 days with my new company, and that was to evauate my performance to see if I was worthy of my responsabality and knowledge. Now, here in Pa we run blue, unless ur a cheif officer then they run Red. But if had been told that after having a light for 12 years, that i couldnt use it, i would probably be a bit upset, and mainly due to the fact that we live in a congested area and it does help with the response time to our station. and if i were unable to get to the sta. to make a truck and my response to calls was a poor evauation and the did not lift a probie. period due to that, then upset would be an understatement. But bottom line... new guys should be closley watched and juniors should not be allowed to run lights. But I do know of guys that have been suspended for 90 days for response to calls and the matter in which they do this, and i gotta tell ya, they never did that again. well sorry for the long narritive.
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Here in Alaska, volunteer and off-duty career staff may display a single blue light (no siren) visible for 500' from the front of their personal vehicle when dispatched as a priority response. The vehicle also must display a decal in the front and rear showing the operator is a member of a FD. State law permits POVs with blue lights to exceed the speed limit by not more than 10 mph, and to proceed through red lights or stop signs after first coming to a complete stop. At all times the operator must exercise "due regard" for the safety of others.
I think the answer to your question has a lot has to do with the culture of safety developed by your department. In our combination FD, if driving like a whacko doesn't get you expelled from the department, you will certainly catch flack for a very long time from your fellow firefighters. Our dispatchers and officers always make sure there is a good reason to respond priority before doing so. Even then, our EVOC course and after-call debriefings make clear that driving too fast or without due regard for others is never worth a shorter response time. We only have so many apparatus and staff; if there is a second "All-Call" for a FF who wrecks while responding to the original dispatch, we've got serious problems.
Having said all that, I do appreciate the ability to proceed through clear intersections when necessary. I have also seen blue lights cause WAY more problems by causing confusion among other drivers, with folks pulling off to the right, the left, and sometimes just stopping in the middle of the road. All in all, I think judicious use of blue lights during priority calls is appropriate, provided their use is governed by state law and local SOGs. A public education campaign also would be helpful, so people know that POVs in their community may be emergency responders.
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Permalink Reply by Brett Johnson on
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Id have to say at least lights, it would be an added bonus to run a siren, but ill also have to agree with most about people abusing the privilage. if you really want people to pull over run more lights, in IL we are supposed to run only blue, or blue/clear if it is a reflected light, such as a dash laser or something with a mirror. I, on the other hand, run 2 blue/clear LED QUAD'S on my dash, wig-wag headlights, and grille lights mounted on the corners...i have never had any problems with anyone pulling over for me, in my lane or on-coming, day or night, and i hardly ever run the wig-wags. But back to the point, i do think vol. FF's and EMT's should at least run lights to let other motorists know that there is something going on and that it would be greatly appreciated if they would move.
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Permalink Reply by 27-9-17 on
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see i run blue lights and in my state of pa only red lights can run sirens. we have a couple blue lighters in my company get suspended or kicked out bc they got caught with the sirens in there cars or trucks. see during the day when we get a call and i go i honk my horn just once just to tell the person in front of me im behind them and that i have my light on if they dont move oh well. and they hate when i get behind them and they stop on a corner and i sit behind them bc i wont pass them on a corner. that really pisses me off to no extent. but i judt honk my horn just so they look in the rear view mirror and see the blue light. but back to ur question. yes u are right only officers that are aloud to have tthe red lights and sirens should be over the age of 30 yrs of age and older and have at least 10 yrs experience to be able to run redlights. ty and stay safe
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