General Forums >> Ask a Firefighter >> lights and sirens?
lights and sirens?
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Posted 3 months ago I have a scanner and sometimes if the call is close by I will go to it and watch from a safe distance well out of the way... one thing I don't understand is why the ambulance almost always uses lights and sirens on the way to the hospital even if it is something minor like a sprained ankle or a person with the flu. It seems unnecessary. It is a volunteer department/rescue squad and from what I have heard paid ambulance companies like AMR do not do this- they will not use l&s for minor problems and will obey all traffic laws while transporting the patient. If anyone has insight into why the volunteer dept's do this please let me know. |
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| Posted 3 months ago SOG's say the have to , most likely. Best bet is to ask the actual department why they do it Sometimes to maintain your authority in the face of criticism, you have to make stuff up. |
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| Posted 3 months ago I'm on a volunteer squad and its our choice to use the lights and sirens or not. Usually the lead on call decides the priority. Some of our responders always use lights and sirens, I choose not to unless I have to, I think that it makes the patient more anxious than they already are. |
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| Posted 2 months ago depends !! on sop's , our depart. will use lights and siren only if its property and life endangerment .brush fires are exculded,unless ur house is in danger. sometimes its better not to use L&S .because ppl dont see them. |
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| Posted 2 months ago Lights and siren should only be used for emergencies, and only by apparatus and appropriate needed personnel, (Officers, Medics). As far as the medic unit running hot for everything, they should not be. This should also match the level of the patient. I have seen times where the EMS system was maxed out and they told everyone to run code everywhere, due to lack of units for calls (which is rare for a city system with like 40+ units). Likewise, I have had patients that should have gone code, but the siren and erratic driving would upset them more. Cardiac patients can fall under this too. It is not always better to run code, and definitely not for every yahoo in the department to do just because they can. It is a trained decision and responsibility. Jeff Draper
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| Posted 2 months ago I have heard of medic units returning to the hospital running Lights and Sirens with only minor injuries on board because they had other calls pending. Eddie D. Howard
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| Posted 2 months ago Lights and sirens just make things un safe for the crew while working on patients in the rig. I usually only use them to get the rig to the pt, than ALWAYS respond cold to the er, even with a code...you cant do CPR effectively in the back of a rig going 40-60 MPH around corners and braking sharply....its dangerous. And the L&S have only proven to shave off 30 seconds....MAX. I have seen numerous studies done on L&S and the average time saved was 30 seconds....thats it people....30 seconds. I would rather get the pt there in one piece without them instead of putting their lives in jeopardy by driving hot, especially in the volunteer service with a possibility of a driver with very little experience getting tunnel vision and wrecking the rig....dangerous stuff. There is too many accidents involving Emergency service rigs as it is, and we as a whole need more effective driver training. Just my 2 cents though!! lol Brian "Moose" Jones
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| Posted 2 months ago I personally don't unless it is considered a life threat, trauma, or the like. I think sometimes that running lights and sirens just puts a big target on you, and makes you push the limits. |
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| Posted 2 months ago in our county protocals, all bls units are to respond "reduced speed" to the call and the hospital unless that status changes of the pt. at which point the medics will be called for an ems rendevous(sp?) |
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| Posted 2 months ago thank you everyone who replied...that clarifies things alot. i agree that it is often unnecessary and minimally time saving to use L&S especially on the way to the hospital |
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| Posted 2 months ago chase1 says ...
I'll agree with this one. I work at a paid EMS service. We only run 911. We don't do transfers or return trips. We respond w/ lights and sirens to most calls. Dispatch usually gets crappy information, which is all that they are able to pass on to us. So, we get on out there and find out for ourselves. When we transport to the hospital, most times, we go without lights and sirens. Sometimes, even in the case of an emergency, I will still go in quietly. Imagine the child with epiglottitis. Excite that one and you have BIG problems. Thankfully, the choice is left up to the crew on the med unit. We all try to make the decision with the patient's best interest in mind. And, sometimes that is turning the lights as low as possible in the back and transporting slowly and quietly to the ED. Our transport times range from about 20 miles to about 50 miles, depending on where the incident occurs. Therefore, running "hot" can make quite a difference. Actually, if it is that big of an emergency we call a helicopter. The largest room is the room for self improvement |
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| Posted 2 months ago here in our county if you have barlight you must have a siren so my dad has a siren on his suv but we only use it if theres something in danger. ifs its a brush fire we donot unless your house is indanger. |
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| Posted about 1 month ago It's already been said...but with some places it is protocal. There is one of the bigger cities I live close to, they have it in their protocal. Their thinking is...if you are sick enough to call an ambulance, you are sick enough to require a code 3 response. Hmmm...whatever works. Me, I don't use mine unless I have to. |
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| Posted about 1 month ago yankee3 says ...
I feel that if we get called out for something lights and siren are a must. Ive had this argument with some of the old timers at our station and they say we just want to do it for fun. but i look at it this way, take a simple tree down on a road, if we are going down that road and someone is in front of us that pulls over and we get to that tree firrsst and it is on a corner, who knows that the car would not have gone around that corner and wrecked into that tree complicating the simple that call from a simple tree down to a car wreck with someone being injured. or we could go the brush fire route, we dont always get specific information as to if the fire is near a house, or whos to say that its not a fast moving fire and that much more time you lose that much ground. One of the only times that i will sometimes think about not running is when we get a lift assist with the ambulance i will usually radio and ask what the ambulances response code was if its just a pt transport for oversized person then no but if its for a driver or cardiac arrest its lights and siren. Alot of this is because we are volunteer so ambulance assist we are going straight from home and radioing en route as walking out the door, as for the other calls we have put into effect that unless you are driving right thru the scene or are given permision that you go to the hall first, because we had problems with ppl wanting to go to scene and not come get trucks |
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| Posted about 1 month ago Off subject just a little but go to EBAY and look up light and sirens ? Move to the right. Put this on your vehicle to make the public more aware !!!! Thanks PS I am not selling this but have this on my personnel truck to HELP THE PUBLIC REMEMBER !
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| Posted about 1 month ago Oh and also my motorcycle !!!!!!!! |
