Emergency Questions

[firefighter111]

Mike, what exactly is this, and what is it, a recruitment unit?

CHP vehicle

[MikesPhotos]

Mike, what exactly is this, and what is it, a recruitment unit?

CHP vehicle

Just one of the many thousands of privately owned and operated police or fire related race teams. They are used to promote safety awareness and anti-drug messages and almost all of them use no tax or department money at all. LASD's is the one I'm most familiar with and you can read all about their activities here

An before anyone gets any strange ideas and runs toddling off to the suggestion thread, that is NOT and I stress, NOT an active on duty patrol unit in any way shape or form. Sorry.

[james23222000]

A question regarding America:

How do you decide what equipment to put on which tender.

• In this country all engines carry Jaws of Life, chainsaws etc but we do have specialist rescue tenders that have far superior equipment.
  
• Jaws of life aren't put on Ladder or hydralic platform vehicles as they have a sole pupose of putting out high fires or fires out of reach
  
• What other specialist tenders d oyou have apart from HAZMAT (i.e. we have a fire command unit)
  
• How do you respond to the fire, how do you alarm more engines or how do you know what to send out on the first alarm?
  

Just curious to know

Regards

James

(P.S Sorry if its confusing).

[MikesPhotos]

A question regarding America:

How do you decide what equipment to put on which tender.

• In this country all engines carry Jaws of Life, chainsaws etc but we do have specialist rescue tenders that have far superior equipment.
  
• Jaws of life aren't put on Ladder or hydralic platform vehicles as they have a sole pupose of putting out high fires or fires out of reach
  
• What other specialist tenders d oyou have apart from HAZMAT (i.e. we have a fire command unit)
  
• How do you respond to the fire, how do you alarm more engines or how do you know what to send out on the first alarm?
  

Just curious to know

Regards

James

(P.S Sorry if its confusing).

The United States of America, unlike many European countries, does not have a national system of Fire Protection, Suppression or Emergency Medical Response. Instead each department has it's own policies based on their own geographical area, need, budget, and state/county protocls. There are very loose guidelines set forward by the NFPA and Firescope, but as to the specifics of your questions, there is no answer. No two agencies are alike, not even state to state or within the same county.

Mike

[Commander Rasseru]

The United States of America, unlike many European countries, does not have a national system of Fire Protection, Suppression or Emergency Medical Response. Instead each department has it's own policies based on their own geographical area, need, budget, and state/county protocls. There are very loose guidelines set forward by the NFPA and Firescope, but as to the specifics of your questions, there is no answer. No two agencies are alike, not even state to state or within the same county.

Mike

Agree... It took a local small city fire department many years to replace a Tower Truck that was built in 1983.

Not all small city, county, and township's have the budgets for new equipment. I bet there a Truck from the 60s running at some department.

[MCERT1]

Agree... It took a local small city fire department many years to replace a Tower Truck that was built in 1983.

Not all small city, county, and township's have the budgets for new equipment. I bet there a Truck from the 60s running at some department.

Oh, even a few older than that out there.... I remeber a local department near Johnstown, PA that was running, and I believe still is running an old truck from the 50's as their 2nd engine...

As for policies and Special agencies, nationally you do have the USAR Task Forces from all states.. In Ohio, there is a statewide response plan developed post 9/11 by the OFCA, or Ohio Fire Chiefs Association which lays out mutual aid throughout the state and even into local states for major emergencies.It's been very well recieved, and is being adopted by several other states. Also, The office of the state fire marshall along with the fire chiefs associatio, and state fire school have created a few specialized task forces. This includes a Water Rescue Team and USAR team, both also have a set of equipment trailers. The state organizations also have, and provide mobile training equipment for USAR, hazmat, flash over training, etc. for local departments and task forces throughout the state. There are also regional response groups like the COST--Central Ohio Strike Team, which is a USAR and collapse rescue team made up members from central ohio fire departments (their trucks were provided by the OFCA. For Hazmat operations all departments are part of NASTY (I don't remember the acronym definition), is the regional hazmat group. Each depatment possess their own hazmat trucks, but a large disasters will respond as mutual aid, and fufill certain roles such as decon and contaiment.

In Pennsylvania, I have seen some places where the county runs the hazmat equipment. These function like the COST team, firefighters from all over use equipment kept at a seperate station.( In the case of Erie Co. the airport). But, I know that the area around Pittsburgh has SHARP which functions along the same lines as NASTY, and has several departments providing pieces of specialized apparataus. In the case of Cambria County, the Hazmat team started when a better off company purchased the piece of equipment, the same also started with the USAR team. Currently the USAR team is still run by the one department, and is part of a multi-county technical recue team. The hazmat truck has been taken over by the county so staffing is provided by many departments and the truck is kept outside of any particular station. Also, the local paid department has purchased a truck they staff and respond as part of the county hazmat team, and other department have purchased equipment trailers, etc. for the team that are station at their indvidual departments. Unlike in SHARP or NASTY, most vehicles are not full hazmat trucks.

Also most departments tend to keep some basic hazmat supplies on each truck, normally just some absorbent materials.

The multi-department, county specialist teams, tend to keep their equipment outside of fire departments because of the politics that can occur.....especially in volunteer ares.

Also,as far as equipment on trucks it varies from department to department. Some run with heavy rescues carrying the extrication equipment, and some run with engine rescues....

As far as other specialized equipment it just depends around here there are no command posts, in PA everyone had a specialized bus or truck for it. Some departments will run HI-X foam trucks, collapse recue trucks, telesquirts, light trucks, air trucks, and heavy duty off road brush trucks. It just depends on what equipment the department has and what the department needs to have for their area.

If you want some good examples, I can post some links to western PA fire Departments, it really show cases the variety and customization you see in U.S. fire fighting....anyways didn't mean to ramble on, I hope this helps you.

[Commander Rasseru]

In Japan the Fire department are mostly run by local largest city in the area. They could have budget problems too.

Even that they have the main city budget and plus the bugets from the the near by towns and villages.

At a stations you can see the a wide range of trucks and models at different ages. So customization could happen.

Like some times the lonely village station would have the oldest fire truck ever saw...

So Japan also really have no big national system and funding comes mostly from the local area.

They also do have the system where other fire departments could goto the other areas to help out other cities too.

[hunter42]

Who gives the orders for a code? Like a code3 response. And how do they decide what code should be be used in an emergency?

[MCERT1]

Who gives the orders for a code? Like a code3 response. And how do they decide what code should be be used in an emergency?

Generally from place I know the response is almost always respond lights and sirens. I really don't know of any places which use the code system. When they do respond no lights and sirens, it is because the nature of the call (like a non-emergency transport) or at the request of the police... So normally either the incident commander or just nature of the call determines the response style.

[MikesPhotos]

Who gives the orders for a code? Like a code3 response. And how do they decide what code should be be used in an emergency?

Like above, each department has their own standards and operating procedures. Some areas might be governed by additional county or state rules as well.

LAFD responds to a handful of incidents without lights or sirens simply because there is no need to based on EMD information and the guidelines of the department. Sometimes it is left up to the discretion of the unit calling for additional units based on his experience, the situation on scene and his need. For example, E88 and RA88 are on scene of a Traffic accident. The Captain on the Engine requests an additional BLS ambulance for a 2nd patient who meets the transportation criteria but also meets the minorly wounded classification. Instead of having the BLS RA respond Code 3, he might have them respond without lights and sirens since the patient is not in any life threatening danger and there is no need to endanger the Public or the FF/EMT's on the ambulance. Another example would be an engine responding to a person who fell out of bed and they, along with their helpers, are unable to assist them back into bed. If the patient isn't hurt, never lost consciousness, and is for all intents and purposes fine, just on the floor, is there any real need to respond the way you would to someone with a gun shot or a home that is fully involved?

Every area is different though, every department has different rules, some are hard fast believers in the old adage of, "If you don't need me there Code 3, you must not really need me at all", others are more practical and flexible and have a robust guideline and SOP manual dictating their responses and needs along with the safety of the department members and the citizens they serve.

Mike.

[james23222000]

Mike,

In America do you have St John Amnulance?

over here St John ambulance are used for:

• Duties (local/large)
  
• To assist our ambulance service in the event of a major incident in which the ambulance service cannot attend some callouts
  
• Community care
  
• To work with the ambulance service in some areas.
  
• A special childrens intesive care ambulance service
  

We have many volunteers and our volunteers with ambulance aid 2 are trained to EMT level 3 (uk training) which means they can treat serious injuries and drive on blue lights.

In New Zealand they run the whole ambulance service.

Regards

James

[MikesPhotos]

Mike,

In America do you have St John Ambulance?

Regards

James

No we do not. The US has no national Fire or EMS program, with each area dictating it's own rules, regulations, and standards as necessary. Because America is so vast with different climates, topography, cultures, and resources, no one plan could possibly work in every area. In some areas like LA, the EMS program is part of the Fire Department, in others, the ambulances are managed by the Hospitals.

The St John "brand" is popular in the UK and former colonies like Canada, Malaysia, and so on and so forth, just not in this one.

[Guest St.JohnAmbulance]

Mike,

In America do you have St John Amnulance?

over here St John ambulance are used for:

• Duties (local/large)
  
• To assist our ambulance service in the event of a major incident in which the ambulance service cannot attend some callouts
  
• Community care
  
• To work with the ambulance service in some areas.
  
• A special childrens intesive care ambulance service
  

We have many volunteers and our volunteers with ambulance aid 2 are trained to EMT level 3 (uk training) which means they can treat serious injuries and drive on blue lights.

In New Zealand they run the whole ambulance service.

Regards

James

Ha.. I'm from St. John Ambulance of Malaysia.. =D

[hunter42]

Anytime i visit America (towards night time), i see sheriff and/or police cars outside houses and in driveways. Are Police officers in America allowed to take cruisers home???

[MikesPhotos]

Anytime i visit America (towards night time), i see sheriff and/or police cars outside houses and in driveways. Are Police officers in America allowed to take cruisers home???

Once again, I hate to sound like a broken record, but there is no "National Policy" regarding anything in America. Some small rural departments allow it, some larger departments allow it as well. In Los Angeles, some departments allow their Motor officers to take their bikes home, but not any patrol or unmarked vehicles.

[Guest PVFD]

some of our State Troopers take theyre cars home by its pretty rare

[hunter42]

Sorry Mike and PVFD, i didn't complete my question really. What i was going to ask was that doesn't the PD kinda need the vehicles? (understandle if it's a small police force, but i saw this in Orlando alot and it surprised me). And is there any specefic reason for this?

[Newfoundking]

Here the local p[olice(RNC) let some officers take their patrol cars home. We have just shy of about 150-200 vehicles on the force, and if you serve for I think 3 years or something and apply for it, they let you take the car home... RNC serves as provincial police to about 500000

[Guest PVFD]

well you might have just seen a night shift officer stopping in to see his family...or sleeping there ha....and some police forces by an excessive number of cars......supervisors and such have a better chance of having take home units

[Newfoundking]

Well, We have 6 K-9 units, each gets a SUV and the dog trainer keeps the dog and the truck until he retires or one dies.... Also only a few supervisors have take homes... they tend not to need the government paid vehicles, big $$ up here And most traffic units and detectives have take homes, because the government pays for gas and such... It's kinda sad to think that this is my tax dollars -.-

[Guest Stukov]

Lets not forget that many of these supervisors and detectives get older patrol cars that otherwise would've been sold after being replaced. So its not like they're getting brand new cars. At least thats the way I've seen it done.

[Newfoundking]

not here, I've seen supervisors get brnad new dodge chargers, and 08 impalas, with the good light packages

[Guest PVFD]

lol yeah it really depends in my county....County Detective gets a brand new charger with a amazing led light package...sherriff gets a brand new explorer.....city supervisor gets the old crown vic...with a cheap led light package....state gets new unmarked crown vics

[firefighter111]

Mike, out of curiosity, how are the helemet sheilds in LA, and what information do they portray about their wearer?

[Commander Rasseru]

lol yeah it really depends in my county....County Detective gets a brand new charger with a amazing led light package...sherriff gets a brand new explorer.....city supervisor gets the old crown vic...with a cheap led light package....state gets new unmarked crown vics

Also some for cities... The Rule is that... The police put too many miles on the car. So they get new ones than driving them even more with more miles on them. What ever is the limit is set by the police.

Now many people think that the old crown vic at the fire stations gets are less used because they don't patrol around like the police one. So that no one think the fire don't need them because the don't patrol or high speed chases.