Our station was broken into.

[FiremanMike]

wait a minute: so you, as a supervisor, would be ok with each person having a key, and a 3rd key being in the truck with the engine running, and the doors unlocked?

Once thing I have learned in all my time of employment (both in fire and ems and in corporate world) is that if you don't ask for something, the odds are very low of you getting what you want. This is especially true when management doesn't know what the field staff want, or hasn't ridden a truck in a while.

And no, I am not saying go into the directors office and demand change; however, if you walk into the director's office and say "hey mr director, why don't we have kills switches in our trucks? ambulance get stolen (and here are several examples), and we don't want to end up on that list. and if we turn off our trucks, they might not start up / the meds might go bad / the truck will be too hot or cold for our patients. Is there a reason why we don't, other than 'well, we have never needed them before, so why do we need them now?' or simply because no one has ever asked for them beforehand?" he director might say "well, we don't have it in the budget for this year, but maybe we can get them during the next fiscal year."

It's 2019; I would have thought this security issue was handled post 9/11 among the majority of 911 ambulances..... apparently I was wrong.

I’m not sure what you’re looking for. I feel like we’ve reached the point in the conversation where no perspective but your own is correct.

 

[Traumaholic]

Hey guys!

So I have a bit of a situation that I need some thoughts and opinions about.

Today when I came into work I found out that one of my services stations was broken into last night. A crew member heard some noises coming from the supply room at around 3AM and went to investigate. Turns out there was an intruder. The intruder saw the crew member and fled out of the station the way he came in.

How he got into the station was through the garage. The garage door is broken (and has been for months) and does not shut all the way. It's open enough that someone can easily push the door up a little and squeeze under it. The supply room is right off of the garage and that particular door doesn't have any type of lock so the intruder was easily able to slip under the garage door and enter the station.

This morning our assistant director found out and told me he was headed over to that station to install some locks on the door. Later today I asked the medic working at that station it the door got fixed. Apparently the assistant director got there and made a few suggestions on how to secure the garage. When the crew pointed out why those suggestions wouldn't work the assistant director then told the medic to just go buy a padlock and put it on the track of the garage door and then left. There isn't even a way to put a padlock on the track. The crew ended up forcing the door closed and shoved some metal rods in the track so the door can't be lifted up.

I still didn't like the idea of the supply room door not being lockable and was worried about their safety so I ended up buying some bolt locks and taking it over to their station. I then contacted the fire department to help install them since I didn't have the tools required for the job. I also walked the entire station and quadruple checked every door to make sure the station was secured. As I was chatting with the medic and combing through the station he pointed out a gun that an officer had left in the medic room last night for extra protection.

I am so beside myself right now. How could the assistant director just leave and not make sure the crew was safe?? I want to write a complaint about this situation, but I'm not even sure who to write it to or if it'll even matter. Both my director and my assistant director have a very "not my station, not my problem" sort of attitude so I feel like if I complain to my director it'll just fall on deaf ears. I could possibly climb higher and complain to the board, but they're all tight with my director and I feel like somehow it'll just end up bad for me. I just don't understand how management can act so nonchalant and uncaring about this situation. What if something had happened to the crew last night? What if the intruder comes back? I just feel like my hands are tied and there isn't much more I can do.

Hello. So I have worked some private services with most of my time being in small town EMS. I must say I have seen some neglect to the the city stations I was in. Now as the LT EMS coordinator for a small town Fire dept. There is no way that would be tolerated in my station My Chief is great with the security of everyone on the dept but the station as well. I know some things did happen before I got there ( 10 years now } with over twice that in EMS but now with a very good roster it has not happened again. I guess I'm saying just no excuse for not minding the house as it were. Thanks