Speeding Solomons VFD Truck at PRAD

[sweetandsassy]

That Solomons was responding to a call is a miracle in itself. More often than not, they scratch on calls do to lack of manpower.

However, if there is an event going on in Solomons, they are out in full force. Too bad they don't share the same enthusiasm when the equipment is needed for an emergency.[/QUOTE]

You got that right! I got cut off one day by utility 3 on RT. 4 north bound. they had to be doing 65 mph. we got up to the lusby exit which they wanted, as did I, and they we both ended up stoping at fast stop and all they were heading up there for was their free fountain drinks! But who knows maybe they were dying of thirst.

Now I am not saying that they are all bad, I have been down at the firehouse and seen them be ready and go on calls and get the job done.

 

[G1G4]

Don't know about that..

Brought the less than intelligent into the light..

That's fine, but how does that affect how the driver of that apparatus will drive in the future? Chances are, he doesn't read the forums, so who will it help? I know the chief (or A Chief, one of the two) of Solomons is here, but making contact in a timely manner is what counts. All posting on here does is make people draw a generalization that all first responders in this area drive like lunatics, and the next time they think they see an emergency apparatus driving wreckless, they'll post it here. Kind of like the mob mentaility.

Had this same discussion over New Years did we not? People walking to and from the Fireworks, picnics.. Crowded street, and the police cruisers flying down the road to stop a fight??

Sound familiar?

I'm not defending it at all. I wasn't there and didn't see it so I really have no info to go off of other than what was said here. If the driver believes he was driving with due regard, than so be it. In a crowded area, things always look faster than what they actually are. If the streets really were crowded, the fire truck could've looked like he was flying because of the amount of people the fire truck was going by.

First responders first and foremost need to use a little common sense.

Some child got away from a parent and ran out into the street (maybe chasing a lost balloon, ESPECIALLY since they were waiting for a PARADE) no way in hell that truck could have stopped in time.. and a dead child is a dead child no matter who's fault it was, or who's house it was on fire.

But of course that would be the PARENT's fault, not the speeding fire truck..

And of course, nobody wants anyone dead, whether it be wreckless or not. If the driver believes he was driving reasonably, no one is going to change how he was driving. He was sitting high enough up in the air that he could probably see the majority of the people on both sides of the street. He wasn't in a car, sitting low so he was about chest high to the people, he was in a firetruck well above the crowd.

Don't firetrucks use their "Federal" in Parades?

Imagine a kid hears the siren thinks the parade is getting ready to start and bolts out into the road to see ..

There's only one parade around here that allows siren usage, and that's Colonial Beach.

 

[itsbob]

There's only one parade around here that allows siren usage, and that's Colonial Beach.

I'm 48 and didn't know that.. I guess we should assume all children under the age of 10 would..

And where the driver sits isn't pertinent. I've driven many a big vehicle in my lifetime and your vantage point, sirens nor training reduce the stopping distance of ANY vehicle. 50 - 0 is the same whether you are sitting 6 inches off of the ground or 8 feet off of the groun, OR if your sirens are off or on. Someone runs out in front of you, either you can stop in time or you can't!

 

[G1G4]

I'm 48 and didn't know that.. I guess we should assume all children under the age of 10 would..

And where the driver sits isn't pertinent. I've driven many a big vehicle in my lifetime and your vantage point, sirens nor training reduce the stopping distance of ANY vehicle. 50 - 0 is the same whether you are sitting 6 inches off of the ground or 8 feet off of the groun, OR if your sirens are off or on. Someone runs out in front of you, either you can stop in time or you can't!

I'm not saying kids would know it either way, but if a responsible adult is present with any child that doesn't know what a siren is (I'll say anyone under 13), than the child should be supervised well enough that it shouldn't make any difference whether or not the truck was speeding.
Where the driver sits is rather important. If the truck is sitting that high off the ground, he has a pretty good vantage point of where people are in the crowd. I'm not saying he can see every single person, but he can see the majority.

 

[lilblondeone19]

I'm not saying kids would know it either way, but if a responsible adult is present with any child that doesn't know what a siren is (I'll say anyone under 13), than the child should be supervised well enough that it shouldn't make any difference whether or not the truck was speeding.
Where the driver sits is rather important. If the truck is sitting that high off the ground, he has a pretty good vantage point of where people are in the crowd. I'm not saying he can see every single person, but he can see the majority.

You are obviously a volunteer. Regardless, the firetruck WAS speeding and it was not acceptable.

 

[G1G4]

You are obviously a volunteer. Regardless, the firetruck WAS speeding and it was not acceptable.

I am, and as I said before, I'm not justifying it.

 

[xobxdoc]

I train with a lot of the local volunteers. Most of them are professional and genuinely care about volunteering for their community. Some on the other hand just like to drive fire trucks real fast!

 

[lilblondeone19]

By the looks of it you tried by explaining the seating position and that it could have "appeared" that he was moving faster than he really was.

 

[awpitt]

You are obviously a volunteer. Regardless, the firetruck WAS speeding and it was not acceptable.

How fast was he going? 50? 30?

Ask "What's reasonable?" to ten differnet people and you'll get at least five different replies. Some might think anything over 15mph is driving like a bat out of h*ll.

 

[Tina2001aniT]

Who else saw the firetruck fly by right before the start of the parade? Ok, I understand there was an emergency but with lots of people, children, and pets along the road (VERY CLOSE) I think it was utterly ridiculous!!!

I was there along the parade route and saw the same thing you saw. The truck had lights and sirens many people around me thought this truck was the start of the parade until the announcer said otherwise, yes he was going fast, but he was not flying. Given the lights and sirens and seeing that the truck was going a little faster than I would have been comfortable with my young child on his/her own I believe I would have had time to grab his/her hand and watch the firetruck pass by. I see nothing wrong with what happened. An emergency is an emergency.

 

[awpitt]

I was there along the parade route and saw the same thing you saw. The truck had lights and sirens many people around me thought this truck was the start of the parade until the announcer said otherwise, yes he was going fast, but he was not flying. Given the lights and sirens and seeing that the truck was going a little faster than I would have been comfortable with my young child on his/her own I believe I would have had time to grab his/her hand and watch the firetruck pass by. I see nothing wrong with what happened. An emergency is an emergency.

Now we see there's a little more to the story than the OP mentioned. So we had lights and sirens along with the announcer saying it's not part of the parade.

 

[G1G4]

By the looks of it you tried by explaining the seating position and that it could have "appeared" that he was moving faster than he really was.

No, the seating explanation I used was in reference to the driver moving fast, not why he looked fast to you or the crowd. I explained why it might've looked like he was going fast because of the amount of people crammed in. Look at it this way; if you have a vehicle driving past a 100 foot long brick wall, it could look like he's doing a reasonable speed because there's no contrast. All you see is the brick wall and the vehicle. However, if you have a vehicle driving past a 100 foot long line of people, it will most likely look like he's going faster than he is because of all the contrast of people. Short, tall, small, fat, different color shirts, etc.

 

[lilblondeone19]

Now we see there's a little more to the story than the OP mentioned. So we had lights and sirens along with the announcer saying it's not part of the parade.

Never said he didn't have lights and sirens. A lot of people were not near an announcer either, so not everyone heard the message!

 

[awpitt]

Never said he didn't have lights and sirens. A lot of people were not near an announcer either, so not everyone heard the message!

Parade or not. Regardless of where I'm at, if I hear sirens, I assume emergency. If I'm driving I get a visual on where the sirens are coming from so I can firgure the best way to get out of the way. If on foot, I get a visual on where the sirens are coming from so I can firgure the best way to get out of the way along with my kids. That's what those warnings are for, to alert people to get back.

 

[Justme2]

Took Me A Long Time

To realize one thing in life Most of what you worry about really isn't going to happen.

 

[CobbWeb]

Due regard

Not defending or admonishing them, not enough facts presented. I was not there and did not witness the incident. Agree with above that the best course of action is to call the Chief and express your concerns and let him investigate and take action as necessary.

All emergency vehicles are required to use due regard when responding to emergencies. This is a judgement call that would be up to the judge or jury if something bad happens. Now you also have to look at whether the call was a true emergency, this is important in determining the level of acceptable risk that could be taken while responding.

A few things to ponder from the above discussion.
Fire Trucks are big and make a lot of noise so perseption is that they are always flying even though they may not be.
They are also large and take a lot longer to stop than a normal vehicle, so pay attention and give them room.
No one has said what the nature of the emergency was so its possible the call may have been high priority.
What is an acceptable speed for response? If we are concerned that someone could walk in front of or pull in front of maybe all responses should be routine or only at 5, 10, 25 mph. There is always a risk of something or someone pulling or jumping in front of it.
Does a few seconds make a difference? Watch this and decide for yourself. NFPA FIRE GROWTH
Also keep in mind if someone is not breathing brain death starts to occur at 4 minutes, so yes the few seconds could be the difference in life or death.
These are all volunteers and many critical decisions must be made on each and every call, and the operator has to weigh all info and decide what risks they will take and not take on every call, no one is perfect and hopefully the right decision is made.

 

[G1G4]

To realize one thing in life Most of what you worry about really isn't going to happen.

Not defending or admonishing them, not enough facts presented. I was not there and did not witness the incident. Agree with above that the best course of action is to call the Chief and express your concerns and let him investigate and take action as necessary.

All emergency vehicles are required to use due regard when responding to emergencies. This is a judgement call that would be up to the judge or jury if something bad happens. Now you also have to look at whether the call was a true emergency, this is important in determining the level of acceptable risk that could be taken while responding.

A few things to ponder from the above discussion.
Fire Trucks are big and make a lot of noise so perseption is that they are always flying even though they may not be.
They are also large and take a lot longer to stop than a normal vehicle, so pay attention and give them room.
No one has said what the nature of the emergency was so its possible the call may have been high priority.
What is an acceptable speed for response? If we are concerned that someone could walk in front of or pull in front of maybe all responses should be routine or only at 5, 10, 25 mph. There is always a risk of something or someone pulling or jumping in front of it.
Does a few seconds make a difference? Watch this and decide for yourself. NFPA FIRE GROWTH
Also keep in mind if someone is not breathing brain death starts to occur at 4 minutes, so yes the few seconds could be the difference in life or death.
These are all volunteers and many critical decisions must be made on each and every call, and the operator has to weigh all info and decide what risks they will take and not take on every call, no one is perfect and hopefully the right decision is made.

 

[slseaweed]

I was there and was shocked at how fast the truck was flying off the Island. The bottom line is this....if the truck god forbid hits a pedestrian or vehicle, he isn't going to make it to the house fire OR accident OR whatever the call was for. So wouldn't it be smart to get to whatever the call is SAFELY without putting another life in danger? Just a common sense thought......

 

[slseaweed]

So let me ask this then....since you mention about someone not breathing. Are you saying it is right and fair to put another life in danger because someone else stopped breathing? I feel for the person who stopped breathing, but for god sakes lets not injure/kill others to get to that one person. Call me harsh, but really!!

Also, the call must not have been that big of a deal because they got cancelled within minutes. They never even made it all the way across the bridge before lights and sirens were turned off.

Secondly, I was sitting directly in front of the museum, closer to where you would make the left hand turn to head under the bridge or to the boat ramp. That firetruck was going so fast he practically took that left turn on two wheels!! All for a call that got cancelled within 5 minutes!!!

Now I dare someone to tell me that makes any sense.

 

[slseaweed]

I'm just trying to get a description of what actually happened. Now you're saying a "crowded street". Does that mean there was a bunch of pedrestrian traffic IN the road? If so, than it would not be reasonable for a fire truck to go speeding through. Or was the pedestrian traffic along the sides of the road? You said this happened "right before the start of the parade" so my guess is that the road was clear for the parade to start. Was the fire truck running its lights and sirens?

Just trying to get the whole story here.

Where i was sitting at was right near the crosswalk in front of the museum. The police officer posted in the middle of the road directing pedestrian and vehicle traffic was still allowing people to cross the roadway even though the road had been closed off the vehicle traffic. He had to yell at some people to get across the road quickly when the firetruck came fast approaching. Regardless of what anyone thinks, or how fast he was really going, there were entirely to many people there that day lining the roadway for the firetruck to be driving like he was.