Blue light in different district...

[lilyogi]

I am sure that is not exactly what he meant or anyone meant. I believe that everyone here is here to save lives. To go along with bad information from dispatch, you can also get bad information from people living there. The dept I was on until recent (since i am moving) responded to a house fire, upon arrival had flames shooting out of some windows. they were told by family that everyone was out. As they were pulling their lines to start their attack dispatch advised that there was one person inside the basement and was trapped! They asked the family again and they said there was no one in there. They advised dispatch this and dispatch advised they had the person on the phone and he was trapped in the basement. As they were getting ready to initiate the search the person jumped out the basement window! The family didn't know he was there!!! Lesson learned in my opinion is to do a primary search even if the residents say everyone is out, you never know.
But like i said, everyone here is here to save lives and property and do not have the "it will be there when we get there attitude". I do agree that driving fast is not going to get you there that much quicker, arriving safely is the most important part of this whole thing. Our safety, and those on the roads safety are what is important, i am by no means saying that the person trapped inside is not important, but we have to get there first.

[FirstDueCTVol]

same here infact we have a rule NO BLUE LIGHTs at all....and for those who have not taken it yet you will find that much of the above is covered in the FSVO class.... run a red light even with lights and siren and kill some one...you WILL LOSE....


on a closing note just remember "we did not start the fires we are just here to put them out and not getting there at all will not get em out any faster"

Your all talking vacant structures - I hope. Seconds do count when people are trapped in a structure - I have seen it too many times. I by no means am advocating driving without due regard - just that the "it will be there when we get there" attitude is a tad wrong when it comes to lives. And unfortunately caller/ alarm/ dispatch info is often incorrect or lacking - and to the woman whos child is still in the house fire those few seconds may make the difference. Be safe.

[firegod101]

"Blue Light"

If you travel to Indiana.....don't use your "blue light"....if you come upon an accident.

[ChiefReason]

Oh; Canada!

[mcaldwell]

Isn't it nice that in the Illinois Forum a civilized discussion can be had, nobody gets mad, we learn something about each other. Nice job, everybody.
Take that, webteam, and show the others how it's supposed to be done.

Well fine then! If you're gonna get all uppity about it...

I take offense to your accusations that I am not mad, somehow civilized, and have actually learned anything at all.

[jboczek]

Isn't it nice that in the Illinois Forum a civilized discussion can be had, nobody gets mad, we learn something about each other. Nice job, everybody.
Take that, webteam, and show the others how it's supposed to be done.

[S8ER95Z]

I don't know...
Driving fast never seems to put the fire out. I've tried it; it doesn't work.
However; safely getting an engine there with a full crew works EVERY TIME!
Putting the public that you have sworn to protect at risk doesn't serve your mission.
Experience tells me that when you flip the blue light on, you flip your brain off. Euphoria sets in, adrenaline percolates and good decision-making goes out the window. Voila! Aggressive driving takes over. And that isn't nice.
There endth the lesson.
CR

Execellent post.

BTW I was just pushing buttons.

[RaeBob21]

Jaybird, I think that you do a very good job. Don't be mad, they're just jealous. You look cute in your gear.

[ChiefReason]

I don't know...
Driving fast never seems to put the fire out. I've tried it; it doesn't work.
However; safely getting an engine there with a full crew works EVERY TIME!
Putting the public that you have sworn to protect at risk doesn't serve your mission.
Experience tells me that when you flip the blue light on, you flip your brain off. Euphoria sets in, adrenaline percolates and good decision-making goes out the window. Voila! Aggressive driving takes over. And that isn't nice.
There endth the lesson.
CR

[Firefighter2160]

We still have a policy that says we obey all traffic laws when responding in personal vehicles, we stay within 10 MPH over the posted speed limit when we're in a piece of apparatus with lights and siren on and we stop at stop signs. We'd also stop at red lights if we had any stop lights in our district, which we don't. Better to get there, even if a minute later, than not at all.
And to think, this started out as a discussion about a blue light in another state.

same here infact we have a rule NO BLUE LIGHTs at all....and for those who have not taken it yet you will find that much of the above is covered in the FSVO class.... run a red light even with lights and siren and kill some one...you WILL LOSE....


on a closing note just remember "we did not start the fires we are just here to put them out and not getting there at all will not get em out any faster"

[jaybird210]

Earn really cool nicknames like 'basement saver' that way sometimes.

That doesn't really matter. We haven't burned an occupiable structure to the ground in over over ten years, and I was just called "Chief of the Basement Savers" last night. People think they're being funny, but they're really just being stupid. And there isn't much we can do about that.

[jboczek]

Earn really cool nicknames like 'basement saver' that way sometimes.

I don't know about that. That is, of course, unless it happens with lights and sirens, too.
I'm a firm believer that a minute or so won't really make that much difference anyway.
If it's known that a life is in danger, then we should get there as fast and as safe as possible, which should include all the warning devices we have available on the rig.

[S8ER95Z]

Earn really cool nicknames like 'basement saver' that way sometimes.

Thanks for the input guys!

[efd824]

Like my little buddy from Roseville says...."if it was burning when they called it will be burning when you get there".

[jboczek]

You know what, I would much rather drive the speed limit without lights to almost every call. And that goes for a personal vehicle OR an emergency vehicle. That's my own opinion and does not reflect our department's policy. I very seldom use the blue light in my own pickup, nor do we use any emergency lights when we're moving a piece of apparatus up to our main station. We'll get there just as fast and not scare the heck out of cars we come up on.
That being said, our local sheriff's department frowns upon our guys for responding to a call in a personal vehicle without a blue light on. Maybe the sheriff doesn't really know much. I don't know. He has given me the impression that he'll look the other way for traffic violations if a FF has a blue light on and breaks the rules.
We still have a policy that says we obey all traffic laws when responding in personal vehicles, we stay within 10 MPH over the posted speed limit when we're in a piece of apparatus with lights and siren on and we stop at stop signs. We'd also stop at red lights if we had any stop lights in our district, which we don't. Better to get there, even if a minute later, than not at all.
And to think, this started out as a discussion about a blue light in another state.