Firefighter safety at emergency scenes.

[sconfire]

I am in search of information on laws, bills or some other type of legislation that is in effect or being discussed concerning safety of firefighters at emergency scenes. This "safety" information that I am seeking deals specifically with citizens driving through emergency scenes (of any type) and striking, damaging, injuring, killing emergency workers or property.
A few days ago we had a firefighter struck by a driver at a wreck scene. The firefighter was wearing all appropriate safety markings and was struck by a vehicle and thrown over 50'! Only by the Grace of God did he survive without a broken bone! HOWEVER, this does not minimize the fact that he was struck by a car that was going over 45 mph through an accident scene! If anyone has any information from your state that might help us, please forward it to my e-mail at [email protected] or post it here. We are currently gathering information to attempt to have legislation passed in our state. Also if you have any information about firefighters being injured in this manner, please send that as well. I have all LODD's for the past 5 years, however we would like to get data on injuries sustained to help us with evidence.

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Captain Grant Mishoe
North Charleston Fire Department
North Charleston, SC

[dly]

check out this url. http://server.firehouse.com/news/200..._scottlaw.html

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Old School...Learning New Tricks
http://members.home.net/dly135/welcome.htm

[sloepoke1]

Sconfire I don’t know how the law reads in South Carolina but here in Kentucky we shut the road down if it’s a two-lane road, and if it’s the interstate they shut down the lane lanes involved plus one. The way we do this is to pull those big red trucks across the road and pull the brakes. This usually stops any traffic from going through and we are able to do our work safely.

BTW where was the police while ya’ll was working this wreck?
Good Luck in your quest at getting the your law passed and our prayers for your lucky minor injured companion.

[sconfire]

We do the same thing here. However this does not stop the IDIOTS from not paying attention and doing the damage. We want to get Legislation passed that will fine and (or) imprison a person for these actions. Then we hope when it is passed that it will become a deterrent to drive stupid around emergency scenes and maybe then, AND ONLY MAYBE, people will start to pay attention to the "BIG RED TRUCK". We have no problem what so ever in shutting a road down. I will do it in a heartbeat. Most people comply, however it is the small percentage of the population that the most damage that we are after.

Thanks!

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Captain Grant Mishoe
North Charleston Fire Department
North Charleston, SC

[This message has been edited by sconfire (edited 06-03-2001).]

[sconfire]

Thanks dly! I even found a copy of the law on the internet!

That really helped!



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Captain Grant Mishoe
North Charleston Fire Department
North Charleston, SC

[Krech]

Sconfire, I found a stat for 1999 saying that 8% of total injuries were caused by being struck by a vehicle. Also in that year there were 20 firefighters who were killed when "struck by an object". I would assume that a majority if not all of these are related to vehicles.
Those numbers are staggering considering that this subject is rarely preached about. As firefighters we constantly drill with concerns about interior firefighting safety, but almost never about watching your a** out on the interstate, were it is proven lots of firefighters are killed and injured. When I went through rookie school we never talked about this. Then one night after almost getting nailed by a car during my first couple of days I realized that this is an extremely dangerous aspect of the job and that we should recognize this.
Anyways, I could go on and on about this but I won't. Also, if you haven't already, check out the NIOSH site. Gives preventative measures on this topic.
Krech