Should firefighters be able to write tickets to people parked in a fire lane?

At almost every store or place with a fire lane there is always some parked there who just leaves there can and i causes a hassle to all of the other vehicles trying to get by. I think that we as fire fighters, more for chiefs and officers, should be able to warn on first offense and ticket after that warning.

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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on January 13, 2010 at 4:09pm

Look; I realize that there are cops out there who want to be firefighters, but let's not muddy it up with the one firefighter who wants to be a cop. Cops gotta eat; let them do their job.
For everything else; ever since Backdraft came out and they took the suction hose through the Mercedes, we have felt that we can do that without any fallout. Not true. We can get our point across and very expensively without damaging personal property. We can be reasonable and when that fails, THEN break something. And swear while you do it. :-)

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Permalink Reply by FETC on January 13, 2010 at 4:59pm

Would I have to ticket our own apparatus for parking in the fire lane when shopping then?

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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on January 13, 2010 at 5:14pm

FETC - no, the sign says Fire Lane, it's a reserved spot for apparatus.
What happened to your post earlier today, it was up for only 1 or 2 minutes and then gone? It was funny as hell.

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Permalink Reply by FETC on January 13, 2010 at 5:18pm

Jack,

Well I agree besides it is cool to park there... while we get ice cream from the ice cream stand. I justify it by having the probie stay at the truck and deal with the little one's who think we are really cool.... you know he deals with the whats this for? whats that for? while I eat a double jim dandy sunday - no nuts of course... because my company, the toughest company in the city, engine 17 already needs a wheelbarrow carry them. LOL

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Permalink Reply by Steve Davis on January 14, 2010 at 1:53pm

Hey Capt. Not to totally disagree with you, but in this day in age with budget cuts many departments throughout the country are moving to "public safety officers" who are both Firefighters and Police officers. They are able to lock up bad guys and fight fire. Personally, if the FF's are called to a scene and discover this, a simple call to dispatch to request an officer/fire marshal to site the offense is as easy as writting out a ticket and saves a trip to court. The other issue with this comes to training. Most states require anyone who serves as a summons writer to attend training classes for this to follow the confines of the legal system. An additional expense for the departments to obsorb for a not so frequent offense (fines won't offset the price of training the staff).

of course, if the vehicle is blocking a hydrant, the damage we are going to do to their vehicle is going to more than triple the price of any parking ticket, along with the replacement of any hose lines damaged from running the hose through their car...that and the instant gratification of seeing the vehicle owner totally shocked and dismayed to find his/her fancy car is now a glorified hose bridge! ;)

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Permalink Reply by cadet 911 on January 15, 2010 at 6:42pm

yes

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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on January 15, 2010 at 10:19pm

Noting that you are from Africa, I find it comforting knowing that regardless of where we work, firefighters are firefighters. A fire lane is a fire lane, even if you are working as a firefighter in Nigeria! Thanks for sharing your thoughts here Emmanuel.

CBz

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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on January 15, 2010 at 10:27pm

You are a paid professional, who probably carries a gun considering that you have to deal with fireworks and citation issuance. Your also a moose and the kind of firefighter I have always loved having next to me. You don't need a gun, or anything else but just yourself, very intimidating.. I used to do the gig as well back in the 80's before promoting so I have a lot of understanding for what you have to do for you job title.

Having the power to do the enforcement / investigation stuff was fun but you are not the traditional job duties of what we know as a firefighter. The guys used to joke around and call me a hydropig... Go figure...

You have to have a sense of humor to survive this gig...

TCSS Milo,

CBz