DesertMedic66
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Just in time to watch the placenta be delivered? No thanks haha.
Emergency Lights on a Private Vehicle
- Thread starter Jena
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- college lights private vehicle
Sleepnheat
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In general I am not for lights/sirens on every call. As evedince is showing, running 3 is rarely beneficial to pt outcome. With that being said, I think a lot of it depends on your service and coverage area. I work full time in the city and we only run 3 if its true emergency or unknown medical. Otherwise its 2. But, a very rural volunteer service that I also run for typically responds from home during the night hours. So we have to get to the bay, then go enroute. In some situations, i.e. road construction, etc; lights/sirens on the responding crews POV can be benificial. I do believe that crews should use common sense, but unfortunately that is not always the case. We recently had a volly responding in pov for a minor structure fire that was practically running people off of the road. Thanksfully he was reported and caught by state police.
Please people, use some common sense.
(While writing this, we got toned for mother in active labor with twins who were only at 28 weeks. We were responding mutual aid to a neighboring city that did not have a crew. Yes, lights/sirens were used. And yes, I earned 2 pink stark pins)
Please people, use some common sense.
(While writing this, we got toned for mother in active labor with twins who were only at 28 weeks. We were responding mutual aid to a neighboring city that did not have a crew. Yes, lights/sirens were used. And yes, I earned 2 pink stark pins)
rujero
Emergency Services RN, NREMT
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Well. This convo escalated quickly...
Here in Massachusetts, I'm pretty sure only LEO's can have lights on their personal vehicles and the rationale is for when they work traffic details. LEO's use blue and white, fire and EMS use red and white. Safety vehicles/ snow plows use amber and white. The only time I ever saw fire use personal vehicles to respond to an event was (weirdly enough) a fireman in a yellow corvette responding to an MVA I called in off duty because it happened a couple cars right in front of me and I just threw my amber hazard lights on and creeped up the shoulder of the road to the scene. I was better equipped than he was because I had a First-In bag in my trunk (I volunteer standby for local Pop Warner football games). Bottom line is, my hazard lights did the trick to block the road and the guy in his fancy corvette with red flashers couldn't do **** when he got there because lights were all he was equipped with. Other than hold C-Spine or initiate compressions, what was he going to do by getting there 60 seconds before EMS?
I live in an urban EMS system and no matter where you are, you can throw a stick and hit a hospital ED. Now in a rural place like the Dakotas is it worth it where the distance is significantly farther to a facility? I don't know. What I do know is I am probably first on scene in my personal vehicle to four or five MVA's per year by luck of the draw because traffic is congested and I do a lot of driving. Emergency lights would have helped me exactly zero times in any of these scenarios.
I think it's a regional thing. I'm not qualified to answer your question, but personally? I would never want the liability of working volly in a personal vehicle. That one time I get there 5 minutes early to a SOB x1week who decided to call 911 for a faster ED admission that day is not worth the family in the minivan I clip navigating an intersection with my shiny lights.
-r
Here in Massachusetts, I'm pretty sure only LEO's can have lights on their personal vehicles and the rationale is for when they work traffic details. LEO's use blue and white, fire and EMS use red and white. Safety vehicles/ snow plows use amber and white. The only time I ever saw fire use personal vehicles to respond to an event was (weirdly enough) a fireman in a yellow corvette responding to an MVA I called in off duty because it happened a couple cars right in front of me and I just threw my amber hazard lights on and creeped up the shoulder of the road to the scene. I was better equipped than he was because I had a First-In bag in my trunk (I volunteer standby for local Pop Warner football games). Bottom line is, my hazard lights did the trick to block the road and the guy in his fancy corvette with red flashers couldn't do **** when he got there because lights were all he was equipped with. Other than hold C-Spine or initiate compressions, what was he going to do by getting there 60 seconds before EMS?
I live in an urban EMS system and no matter where you are, you can throw a stick and hit a hospital ED. Now in a rural place like the Dakotas is it worth it where the distance is significantly farther to a facility? I don't know. What I do know is I am probably first on scene in my personal vehicle to four or five MVA's per year by luck of the draw because traffic is congested and I do a lot of driving. Emergency lights would have helped me exactly zero times in any of these scenarios.
I think it's a regional thing. I'm not qualified to answer your question, but personally? I would never want the liability of working volly in a personal vehicle. That one time I get there 5 minutes early to a SOB x1week who decided to call 911 for a faster ED admission that day is not worth the family in the minivan I clip navigating an intersection with my shiny lights.
-r
Bullets
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I wouldnt eliminate lights on my truck because i value them more for when im parked in the road then when responding to calls.
That said i have a little Kojack magnetic rotator i occasionally use when i respond for pin jobs. Since im a volley officer i should be using it more but i hate running lights in my POV