personally only one of our trucks have seatbelts, our other two do not.
I thank that a safety belt is good to use for just riding around, but not to good to use responding to a call, my reasoning with this is because with your turnout gear on it can become very cumbersome to try to fiddle with a belt.
Thease are my thoughts, i would like to hear other peoples views.
Yo Ronco, It would appear you have pushed some buttons. And for very good reasons. The manditory and automatic use of seat belts is a simple fact of our lives. There is no issue here. There is no yes or no about it. You have probably gotten the message by now. A big part of our task is to be exemplary in how we present ourselves. Those who dont use seat belts are setting bad examples. Please do not ever even get into a fire truck that you cant buckle-up in. Pull your question and be thankful you got all those right answers. My God bless you and your local seatbelt installers.
I like your statement about pulling off to the side road and putting the gear on. I have done
it, but I not going to tell you what normally happens here.
If you use them when just riding around, then start thinking of responding as just riding around. Don't forget
to tell anyone who is not using them to put them on.
While I agree that wearing your seatbelt while responding to calls while geared up and while trying to don your SCBA is quite difficult, it is still a very neccesary and there have been to many LODD out there to not be wearing your seatbelt.....If your not wearing it your wrong plain and simple and if your rigs dont have it they are unsafe and should be retrofitted or taken OOS
Starting this thread just shows how far we have to go. For all the responses that tried to impress upon this young person the importence of seat belts, there are still thousands who feel it is for someome else. Either they are just too big and busy, or for what ever reason, have been in a bubble and have no clue as to the fire services efforts, how ever futile they may be, to get our members to use common sense and buckle up.
And then here we have someone who is a pretty good representative of the younger groups mentality these days..."knowing their shit".
Really? Well I can't place the blame on the young firefighter, how can we? Clearly his opinion must have been formed by the practices he's seen by more experienced members in whatever department he belongs too. It seems obvious that any instructional course, or even the very basic training he has attended has failed to impress upon him the importence of understanding that safety, and self-preservation begins with the individual at the earliest point in their training. Suffice it to say that had his company officers and department leaders had done thier job, or that if they even understand thier job, he would not be the recipient of some of these less than tolerant responses.
But who can blame anyone for bangin' their head against the wall? Some people just don't get it. That includes those who beat their chest in front of the young ones and proclaim their wisdom gained through years on the front lines eating smoke and roughing it. Without the mental capacity to understand their past mistakes, they loudly proclaim all this new fangled safety stuff to be part of the new trend of making firefighters sissies.
It's ok young firefighter. Don't take the heat over the frustration of some of us. Your post isn't without merit, and answering your question wouldn't have been met with such hostility if you didn't mention that you "know your shit".
THAT takes years of actually doing it. And then again it depends on how busy your department is, and how many jobs YOU catch. And mostly that means being on the initial line, or at least on the initial first alarm. So it may even take a decade or so to actually even begin to know your shit. What you should be saying is that you are learning your shit.
Now that we're all done beating this young FF about the head and shoulders for his post, I hope that all of you(especially the ones who were the most vehement about his post) will take the same attitude and apply it to the 30 and 40 year veterans we work with who STILL piss and moan about wearing restraints. And in many cases refuse to wear them. And if you say there are NONE in your house that do, you haven't been looking very closely.
Age or years of experience shouldn't be a factor. Nobody pisses and moans about the mandatory seat belt policy in our house. But I must say if it does, then it is a direct reflection of how your members respect the organization's rules, regulations and the mission.
When we implemented it 5 years ago, everyone was told if you are seen by the Chief of Chief Officer not wearing it... you will be sent home immediately. Happened once in the very beginning and the deputy actually sent the guy home for the day. The other thing is the line officers need to be the departments enforcers for the Chief, goes back to having good people in fire officer positions.
I had a firefighter refuse to put one on when I was on a swap with another shift. He was testing my authority as I wasn't his regular supervisor, (on a swap) so while we were responding to the call for a box alarm in our district, I asked him to put on his seat belt. He refused and started to moan about the policy and that he was donning his SCBA at the time.... I then turned to the driver and asked him to slow sown and pull off to the side of the road... I shut off the red lights and stopped blowing the Q, while the driver started to slow down and the guy turned around and said what are we doing?
I said I'm gonna call us out of service if he didn't buckle up.... the next thing I heard is click.
Not to start a pissing match but if your are paid this issue tends to have less resistance.... when it is related to your financial well-being (paycheck) sadly some people tend to see the rules and regulations as part of their job. I have also been there with the ones who say, "Well I don't like the policy", or "Might just quit to show them", or "you can't fire a volunteer" - Sure you can, don't follow the department rules, there is the door...
I agree totally with your statements! And if what you say is true, your house is one in a million. And it's probably true that paid staff are more diligent in their efforts. My comments were generated from the feeling that everybody seemed eager to jump down the rooks throat for a comment that may not have been well thought out, but when they jump on the truck, they won't take to task the veteran sitting beside them doing the exact same thing.
If those young or inexperienced firemen feel invincible, then three pages of posts aren't going to change their mind. The apparatus doesn't move without everyone buckling up. Company officers and Chiefs need to enforce it.
"I know that I'm not smart about this but No I don't wear a seatbelt when responding. It's too hard to gear up and pack up with a seatbelt on." -Jeff Gaudio
well with the amount of truck roll overs seat belts should be worn, you are more likely to roll your truck responding to a call than driving around normally. in new zealand we had a fire truck roll up north killing a firefighter, while responding to a call.
i dont always wear mine but i know i should and i will from now, i dont find any problems putting seat belts on while in full turn out gear but it is our saftey first