Ambulance Crash Pictorial

Thanks for that link. I think we all need to keep the issue of road safety in the forefront of our minds. Modern cars are too soundproofed and have radios that are too loud for us to rely on our sirens and lights to ensure our right of way.

I stop at every light and slow for every intersection regardless of what is transpiring in the back. I want to make sure that I get back home to my kids.
 
There was a pickup truck commercial a few years back that proved "how quiet our cab is" - showed construction sites, other noises, even a large firetruck with Q and airhorns...

The ad got pulled because of complaints.


Does anyone wonder why many new ambulances are coming with dual sirens and/or airhorns? because people can't hear us... Why do you think the FD's love the Federal Q's???
 
The ambulances in my county all have Federal Qs.
 
JJR512 said:
The ambulances in my county all have Federal Qs.
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Electronic, or real???

Are they all "freight-shakers"????

A local medic unit runs out of a building next to the firehouse.... they have a Chevy Tahoe with an E-Q..... really freaks out traffic, because everyone is looking for the big fire truck ;)
 
Too damn loud for an ambulance...

My 74 Cadillac Criterion had one on the roof, it was like sitting inside an Air Raid siren....
 
MedicStudentJon said:
Electronic, or real???

Are they all "freight-shakers"????

A local medic unit runs out of a building next to the firehouse.... they have a Chevy Tahoe with an E-Q..... really freaks out traffic, because everyone is looking for the big fire truck ;)
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I don't know if it's electronic or real, and I don't know what a "freight-shaker" is. I just know that the ambulance siren sounds exactly the same as the fire engine siren, and I know what the engines have (real mechanical Federal Qs) because I've seen them. I just haven't looked that closely at the ambulance yet, I guess.

There's a fire station near where I live, and because of the way the building are situated, we hear the siren before we see the vehicle. Nobody here can tell until they actually see it if it's an ambulance or fire engine coming down the road.
 
We're not allowed to blow our airhorn with a patient onboard because they are SO loud they have upset patients (a crew claims they saw one pt's heart LITERALLY skip a beat). :-D
 
JJR512 said:
I don't know if it's electronic or real, and I don't know what a "freight-shaker" is. I just know that the ambulance siren sounds exactly the same as the fire engine siren, and I know what the engines have (real mechanical Federal Qs) because I've seen them. I just haven't looked that closely at the ambulance yet, I guess.

There's a fire station near where I live, and because of the way the building are situated, we hear the siren before we see the vehicle. Nobody here can tell until they actually see it if it's an ambulance or fire engine coming down the road.
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"freight-shaker" - hack name for a freightliner ambulance.

E-Q vs. Real Q -- Does it have a big mechanical siren on the bumper?
 
I know what the mechanical ones look like, but as I said, I haven't looked that closely at the ambulance. I'm sure I've seen it, I just haven't noticed it.

How similar do the electronic ones sound to the mechanical ones? I know Federal Signal would like to think the electronic ones are supposed to sound the same, but I've read that they're not quite right.

Some of the ambulances in the county are medium-duty type chassis, and may be Freighliner or not, I don't recall. Actually I think they looked more like International cabs. Those are probably the ALS units. My station only has BLS units, and they're Ford van cabs and chassis with cubes for the patient compartment. It could be that these ambulances are built by E-One, which is, after all, a Federal Signal company.

On some other website, I've seen a debate about ambulances having Federal Q sirens. Some of the people on this website, which is oriented more towards firefighters, argue that the Federal Q siren has a very distinctive sound that most people associate with fire trucks, and that it confuses people who hear it and then see an ambulance go by. They say it's a fire truck siren and should only be used on fire trucks, so that when people hear it, they'll have no doubt a fire truck is coming. Personally, I say what difference does it make? If you hear a siren, does it matter if you think it's a fire truck, ambulance, or police car? Be alert and get out of the way. No one kind of emergency vehicle is any more important than another, so it doesn't matter what's coming, so it doesn't matter how accurately the siren sound identifies what's coming.
 
The electronic ones are similar in audible quality.... they are a recording of the real thing... including a "real" airhorn recording.

There is an argument that a "real" mechanical siren has different sound properties than an electonic siren.... something about "true" sine waves.... I'm not an engineer, so it isn't my "cup of tea" - Las Angeles is equiping some of their ambulance with small, mechanical, bumper-mount growler sirens.... at less than the cost of an E-Q.

As for the medium duty vs. type III - You get very little more room in a medium duty rig.... a good, full size type III is more than enough for a 911 or IHOP ALS rig. Medium duty rigs shine with "specialty care transport" - VAD's, isolettes, etc.

As for the E-Q - it is distinctive, but I think it is a general Fire/EMS thing.... I'd be a little upset to find one in a police car. If my doc wants to put one in his POV so he can be a whacker - more power to him (He has one).....
 
The Q does not belong on an ambulance...

Can't hear a damn thing w/ that going!
 
TTLWHKR said:
The Q does not belong on an ambulance...

Can't hear a damn thing w/ that going!
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why do you need to hear when you are responding???

If you really need to listen to the radio - get an intercom system.
 
Geez ...didn't know anybody used the old mechanical sirens anymore...around here ther are a very few old engines that do. I know most public here don't recognize them....

R/R 911
 
When I did my first ride-alongs this past Friday night, the first time I heard the siren I could instantly tell it electronic. The sound was clearly a synthesized version of the Federal Q. It also did not sound overly loud in the back.

I was also mistaken about what kind of vehicle our BLS ambulances are. Previously I stated they were Ford van cabs and chassis with box pt. compartments. Actually the cab and chassis is the Ford F350 Superduty. This is true for most of the BLS units, although there are probably some exceptions in service. Most of the paramedic and medic units are International cabs and chassis.
 
Huge Friggin' ambulances...
 
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