# Oh No! Not a Good Time!



## lfsvr0114 (Jul 17, 2006)

I was working for a rural EMS service and we were toned to the prison to pick up a patient having chest pains out of the infirmary.  We got to the prison, went through the lock down where they check the ambulance to make sure you do not have weapons, etc. and proceed to the side of the building.  We had to lock the unit and a guard made sure that all outside compartments were locked also.  We took all our equipment inside and got the pt and proceeded to the ambulance to load and transport the patient.  We get back to the unit and discover that our key will not unlock the door!
We try not to panick and the guard suggests that how about if they go in and get a couple of the inmates that are in for grand theft auto and see if they can break into the unit.

At this time, we are totally embarressed and flustered, not to mention it was the middle of the summer in Texas.  So the guards emerge with some inmates and they ask which way do we turn the key to unlock the door, and we have no idea, seeing as how we never really paid attention to that detail.  Well, the inmates could not get in!  

I called the supervisor on the phone and told him the situation.  You could tell that he was trying not to laugh and told us to break a small window and let them know so that we will be brought in for repairs after the call.  Well, while looking for a small window, i noticed on the side door we had a small sliding window, and lo and behold it was unlocked.  I asked my incharge paramedic (I was an EMT-I at the time), about just cutting the screen over the window instead of breaking a window.  So, I cut the screen and since I am short, had one of the guards reach in and unlock the door.  We loaded the patient and transported the patient without incident.

I called the supervisor back and told him we gained entry and he asked which window and i told him about the screen and that it would cost about 25 cents
to replace.  Well, they never did replace the screen, but that was no big deal.

Found out later that day that they had just replaced the ignition in the unit and did not re-key the door locks (it was a Ford).  The next shift, the door locks were fixed.


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## SwissEMT (Jul 17, 2006)

Some rigs have a means of unlocking them from the outside with no key. Sounds like you should look into Horton trucks!


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## MMiz (Jul 17, 2006)

Our key fobs don't lock the rig's side door.  It has saved me on more than one occasion.


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## Wingnut (Jul 17, 2006)

ROFL. We have a little lock box on the outside of our rigs with a spare key in it to prevent these kind of situations.


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## Jon (Jul 17, 2006)

Philly FD has "keyless entry" buttons at the back and side doors, for that reason.


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## gradygirl (Jul 18, 2006)

i don't know many rigs have the little keyless clicker things, but this will work on any vehicle as long as the other person has a clicker.

if you ever get locked out of your car and someone else has access to another clicker, call them on a cell phone. if you hold the receiver up to the door lock and the other person clicks the unlock button into the mic, the car door will unlock.

i've done it a few times. if you don't believe me, or even if you do and want to try it, stand next to your locked car and have someone else take the clicker to a place where it couldn't unlock the car. do it over the cell phones, it's pretty cool.


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## SwissEMT (Jul 18, 2006)

I will try this later tonight for good measure.

But I do not believe it. One of the many reasons this cannot work is that keyless remotes work off of radio frequencies which cell phone speakers cannot transmit. 300-400Mhz is simply too high for the cell phone to transmit over the speaker.


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## gradygirl (Jul 19, 2006)

:wacko: That totally went over my head. 

All I know is that I tried it with my dad. He stood by his Yukon and I went to the back of our house (about 500+ ft. and probably 7 rooms away from the car) and it unlocked. I've also done it with my station wagon.


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## lfsvr0114 (Jul 21, 2006)

You can also put the remote under your chin (actually touch the skin with it) and press the button.  It uses your body as a large antenna and will work up to about 200 feet.   Is very helpful when you are at the mall or somewhere with a large parking lot and you forget where you park. I have tried this and it worked for me.


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## gradygirl (Jul 21, 2006)

Rock on, I'm gonna have to try that.


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## ffemt8978 (Jul 21, 2006)

That's why I have a remote start for my car.  I just press the button and listen for my car starting.


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## lfsvr0114 (Jul 24, 2006)

This morning our chief tried to unlock the ambulance via cell phone.  We had one of the cadets go inside the building and press the button to make sure it would not reach. The alarm went off, so we pulled the ambulance out of the bay and shut all the doors.  The remote did not work, so we called the guy on his cell and had him press the button next to his phone.  It did not work.  Our chief walked all around the unit, but to an avail.  We even tried the land line, and it did not work either.  

Our captain looked this up on line and found it under Urban Legends.


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## gradygirl (Jul 24, 2006)

Damn. That's so weird. Kudos for trying it, though.  

Maybe every ambulance service should have a tech trained in jimmying rig doors. :blush: I'd love to know, so if I ever get locked out of my car I can open it!


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## Jon (Jul 24, 2006)

TCERT1987 said:
			
		

> Damn. That's so weird. Kudos for trying it, though.
> 
> Maybe every ambulance service should have a tech trained in jimmying rig doors. :blush: I'd love to know, so if I ever get locked out of my car I can open it!


At work, part of our job is to do "vehicle assists" - Lockouts, Jumpstarts, and Tire Inflates... 

I'm at 0 for 5 for lockouts with the Slim-Jim... BUT, we just got a new toy - the "Big Easy" reach tool with wedges... that is EASY... I can't wait to use it!

On a related note, this subject came up on the local Firefighting discussion board, in regard to a child locked in a vehicle...

Does anyone's service carry slim-jims or other "locksmithing" tools? Do you have a locksmith on call for the "baby locked in car" or baby locked in house" - so you can call someone who will unlock the door without breaking it?


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## Wingnut (Jul 24, 2006)

I know for a fact we don't. I guess the FD might. I was stationed about 45 mins from home and we were next to SO instead of FD. Of course I manage to lock my keys in my trunk with all my gear. So for 4 hrs another EMT & I tryed to break into my car with no success. We did managed to pull out half the weather stripping and destroy the other half, mangle my antenna and somehow I screwed up our window so that it doesn't go down anymore. SO couldn't help either I walked over there & explained the situation and they lent me a pair of plyers.

My inlaws had an extra trunk key (it used to be thier car) and they got all the way up to Immokolee, about 10 mins from the station, and I got a call that we had to transport. So an hour later they drove all the way back into town and met me at the hospital.

I keep a spare key in my pants now. (The ones I put on in the morning, not my night pants in the trunk)


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## Wingnut (Jul 24, 2006)

oops.............


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## fm_emt (Jul 24, 2006)

MedicStudentJon said:
			
		

> Does anyone's service carry slim-jims or other "locksmithing" tools? Do you have a locksmith on call for the "baby locked in car" or baby locked in house" - so you can call someone who will unlock the door without breaking it?



I've seen military police carry slim jims. Otherwise, if it's a baby locked in a hot car, FD will just break out a window. They love that kind of stuff.


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## Tincanfireman (Jul 24, 2006)

The local locksmith will provide free entry for babies locked into cars. They are pretty quick, too; we have a 10 minute rule for breaking windows if the car is in direct sunlight and we have yet to break out any glass. We do have the option of doing it quicker if the child is showing signs of distress, though. From the war story files; we got a call for an adult locked into a car last year on a hot August day.  Yes, some blonde jokes were told on the way to the car (van), but it turned out to be a gentleman who's wife had locked him in. Turns out, he was a quadriplegic and was locked into his wheelchair rack in the back of their handicap accessible lift van. His wife had thrown the keys on the seat and had thought she had unlocked all the doors before closing hers. Turns out, she had just unlocked, then relocked the driver's door, then closed it.  We were able to make contact and monitor his condition with head nods and shakes while we waited for the locksmith. As usual, they were there in about 6 minutes and successfully gained entry.  Just when you think you've seen it all....


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## sarahharter (Jul 25, 2006)

i run at a fire house and at an ambulance house. at the fire house most of us sadly know how to break into cars and that is probably my fault for locking people's keys in their cars. and most of we almost always have an engineer on every call, and all of our engineers are mehanics and have there own lock out tools. but i have never had someone locked in there car, but i asked the question when i was running and they said that we would wait ten minutes (depending on situation) and then whoever wanted to could break a window, but since most of us run with the fire dept to we just "pry before we break"
but i like to break more, prob my fire side coming out more.


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## sarahharter (Jul 25, 2006)

hit wrong button, anyway military police will not generally let you back in your car. i was at andrews afb doing my clincals, locked my keys in my car and they wouldn't help, they said they were not allowed for liablity reasons or something.


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## fm_emt (Jul 25, 2006)

sarahharter said:
			
		

> hit wrong button, anyway military police will not generally let you back in your car. i was at andrews afb doing my clincals, locked my keys in my car and they wouldn't help, they said they were not allowed for liablity reasons or something.



Must depend on the base. I was at Travis AFB and we wound up with FOUR MP units. One cop on each window. The cop that gave up on the window and started on the trunk was successful. He managed to pop the trunk latch with a slim jim and crawled into the back seat and unlocked the door.

I think that they were just bored and they all wanted something to do.


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