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getting passed while running lghts and sirens?
Last night while enroute to a field fire we almost got passed on the highway by an 18 wheeler. Only until he got almost in front of me did he realize what we were. Guess the loud sirens, and brights flashing ligths were not enough to know?? Maybe he just needed to read the door of the fire engine to know?? Has this happened to anyone else? How did you handle it? I called dispatch and let em know but not sure if they got him or not.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tony P on
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Reply by kenny goines 4 hours ago
Of course it happens. My question to you is why were you running hot to a brush fire to start with? Unless there are structures in danger there is no need and it is just plain too dangerous. The fire service as a whole needs to rethink it stance on emergency response. When is it truly needed to run priority one to a scene, when priority three will sometimes get you there just as fast, and a whole lot safer?
No need to 'run hot to a brush fire'? That is a rather broad statement Kenny. In bad fire weather we go Code 1 (lights and sirens) to grass & scrub fires all the time. We like to get there and stop them before structures are threatened.
I agree with you that driving lights and sirens is not guaranteed to get you there faster. I agree that driving lights and sirens is dangerous. But for us most grass & scrub fires are in open country, if we are in bad fire weather we can't afford to let such fires get away from us, we must do all in our power to stop them. If the weather isn't particularly bad, we'll travel Code 3 happily - it depends on the weather.
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Permalink Reply by kenny goines on
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Tony, after what you guys have been through, I can definately see your point. You guys have a totaly different creature to deal with when it comes to brushfires than I do! I may be wrong in my thinking, but I believe you guys are set up similar to what we call our forestry department, in that if no structures are in danger we call you guys with the plows and heavy equipment. Only difference is you guys also do structures which state or federal forestry will have NO part of over here. Our forestry dept. does not have any kind of lights or sirens on thier equipment, once they get on scene they take over, and we switch more to a structure protection role. Unless there are structures in danger they would rather us take a more inderect approach on wild fires. My hat goes off to you and all of the aussie firefighters that dealt with the tragedy in Victoria recently. You guys are absolutely awesome at what you do.
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Thanks for the tipping of the hat mate.
We aren't really like your forestry people, we have our own who also do no structural work at all. In my FRS, the Country Fire Authority, we all train for wildfire as a minimum and then dependiong on our Brigade risk profile we receive further training in different levels of structural firefighting. Our forestry people are the ones with the dozers and stuff. And are the ones who do the handtool work as well. We get to all of their fires that go bad because we have more people and more vehicles. Our main purpose is asset protection, sometimes the best place to do that is a long way from the structures, stop the fire before it gets too close. Of course in a lot of cases that is impossible.
My own Brigade has no wildfire risk - not in our own area anyway. We do close and long range support for a lot of that sort of work.
Anyway, what I was trying to say earlier is that it really depends on the local risk for the use of lights and sirens. If a scrub fire could get away and cause real problems, then making noise might be the correct call. With us a suspected hoax structure call will have all but the first appliance running quiet. It's all in the type of area and type of call I think.
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Permalink Reply by Trainer on
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I was being nosey on day; dept had a high pressure natural gas pipeline rupture, this was impressive as the flame was shooting 100ft into the air. So I hopped into the car and took a drive, got within 5 miles this was as close as I was going to get, when I met an oncoming fire truck, so being the responsible driver pulled off as far as I could on this 2 lanner, ditch was very deep, and can you believe some idiot FF in his POV passed the truck as it went by me, I ducked and nearly pissed myself. Man I sure wish I could have found him, I’m not one much for violence, but I would have decked him.
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Permalink Reply by Bull on
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if your on an interstate and you cant do the speed limit,,then your impedeing traffic,,you should stay to the right and let people get passed you,,if you dont ,you could cause an accident yourself
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Permalink Reply by luis campos on
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ive heard so many times , and its so true
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Permalink Reply by Dennis Brown on
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Well i think the driver did not think about passing you until it was to late to react to your speed most firtruck are govern out to 55 most speed limets are 65 so truckers run about 75 and where you in the right hand lane or left on most highway you can pass .but then i dont know your state law
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Permalink Reply by Paul Verren on
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Our problem around here are the tow trucks. They will race you to the scene of the accident. I've seen them run stoplights and signs. Usuall if they do not yield to us, when we get to the scene we will tell the officer on the scene and they'll usually handle it. I've also been passed on the highway. Our rigs only run around 72mph and seems like that isn't fast enough for some people. Oh well, what do you do except run the call and get there safe. Stay safe, watch out for the crazies and make sure you do not have the cloaking button on so they can see you.
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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Why would we have a "Keep Back 500 Feet" sign on our vehicle if it is OK to pass a fire engine. If you must "keep back", then how is it possible to pass?
It is illegal to tailgate. If you are inside of that 500 feet, you are considered to be tailgating and can be ticketed for it.
Vehicles should NOT be allowed to pass an emergency vehicle if lights and sirens are activated. Unless the person following the truck knows what YOU are going to do, why should they be allowed to pass?
If it isn't law, it should be.
Freeway, interstate or two lane divided; it shouldn't matter.
IMHO.
Art
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I hate to bust your bubble on this one but let’s say your in route to a MVA 5 miles out, all rigs are capable to maintain minimum speed, we got one that tops out at 62. Now everyone is passing you, when you get close to scene all lanes are blocked, now you have to get around all those IDOTS that just passed you.
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