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the department that i am with we have a S.O.P that state that no one shall drive P.O.V to any emergency unless all the trucks are out on the street. this has help us maintain less P.O.V on any emergency and it has work over the years for us.. if i was the chief of that department i would make something up like that. if to many people do that you start to lose track of guy on the emergency and someone could end up injuryed or death could happen, and the chief should start to be come strict about it .

Fireemsgrrl said:

Why would you go to a structure fire POV? What are you going to do when you get there?

Through the years it has amazed me how many times this happens. Everywhere I have served, if it wasn’t in place, I worked to have it put in place. The only reasons to show up POV to a call are the following.

1. You are a Chief Officer.
2. You are a Medic.
3. You have to pass the scene on the way to the Firehouse.
4. You missed the truck.
5. You were ordered to the scene.

And if you do arrive POV, unless you are a Chief Officer, your vehicle must be 500 feet from the scene of operation. That means 500 feet from the closest plug or Engine.

At my home department you're not allowed to go POV unless all of the apparatus are out and you call the Chief or commanding officer and receive permission.

Out where I go to school you can go POV to any thing except MVA's and traffic control on the interstate. It's ridiculous when you have 25 POV's placed where apparatus should be placed. It drives me insane! I don't think you should be allowed to go POV, especially when you need to get man power and drivers at the fire house to get apparatus out the door. I like the idea of making POV's park at least 500 feet from the outer most apparatus.

OK.. ya'll I'm a rookie and have driven our engine more than the ones that have been there forever. They are soooo slow they end up driving POV cause I ain't waiting for them!! We get the truck rolling asap from tone out..and if you're there you can hitch a ride otherwise you are on your own. They do however provide a great deal of safety for the engine like stated above when you need to block a road or multi domain driveway. It keeps people in or out.. and let's us get our job done safely. Without having to worry about vehicles running us over in the process of doing our jobs.

We require all are personnel to leave thier gear at the station so this will not happen. It would be embarrasing to show up to your fire and all the trucks are still sitting at the fire house. i wouldnt want to be the one to explain that to no one.

fftonya said:

OK.. ya'll I'm a rookie and have driven our engine more than the ones that have been there forever. They are soooo slow they end up driving POV cause I ain't waiting for them!! We get the truck rolling asap from tone out..and if you're there you can hitch a ride otherwise you are on your own. They do however provide a great deal of safety for the engine like stated above when you need to block a road or multi domain driveway. It keeps people in or out.. and let's us get our job done safely. Without having to worry about vehicles running us over in the process of doing our jobs.

Our Dept. has paid part-timers during the daytime hours, and about 5 of us who stay at the dept. overnight regularly, so we haven't run into this problem. However, our Chief has made it very clear that if we have to go anywhere near the station to respond to the call and don't stop to get a truck, we will not enjoy our assignments once we get there. That has seemed to keep guys from going straight to the scene.

Boy o' Boy! I would have to set my company straight. No one outside of the chiefs should go direct and not a firefighter for sure. If a Captain knows that there is an officer at the station it would be alright, but not if you are not positive. When in doubt go to the station.

in my neck of the woods no pov's to the scene except when it goes into a 2nd alarm. then and only then are you allowed but you must park 1 block out and hike it in. the only way for a pov to be on scene if it was an AED call and you had to drive past it to the station.

Almost all of our engines will legally carry only two personnel. Only a few have crew cabs. If no POV's went to our fire scenes, we wouldn't have enough people. A three engine response could possibly give you a maximum of 6 personnel.

Gotta think outside the parameters of the box that your department resides within.

Granthamvfd said:

A couple of months ago we were dispatched to a work building fire we were 2 due in we arrived on scene with an out building that was fully in gulf . we were the fist engine there but all the firefighters from in 1 st due department was there. They all came by P.O.V. no one got a unit. the chief of the Department called in the fire it was his next door neighbor's building He ended up going to the station because everyone in his department forgot to get the engine. What would you do if you were the chief.

My department doese allow for POVS to all calls. However, most of the member have enough common sense to go to station and make sure there isnt an aparatus to take first.

I personally have gone to medicals, structers, grass, and MVAs with my POV. Were I park is pretty much complelty off the road, and usually I can barely even see whatever it is I'm going to. The only one that I dont really worry about my parking (much) is medical calls. A lot of our guys are first responders and I'm and EMT, so they grab equipment and I go in direct. 

All in all, it seems to go pretty smoothly in my department.