CHP arrest on-duty firefigher while treating crash victims . . .

[jwfuhrman]

Do they arrest ambulance drivers for busting red lights and or speeding enroute to or from a call?

actually we get tickets here at our Service if we do more than 80mph(70mph is Indiana Speed Limit) on an interstate, 70(60mph speed limit) on a state highway, and 50(35mph speed limit) on a state highway that runs through a town.

[T2C]

actually we get tickets here at our Service if we do more than 80mph(70mph is Indiana Speed Limit) on an interstate, 70(60mph speed limit) on a state highway, and 50(35mph speed limit) on a state highway that runs through a town.

If you have your emergency lights activated and are responding to a bonafide emergency, I think LEO should give you some consideration.

[J-Dub]

If you have your emergency lights activated and are responding to a bonafide emergency, I think LEO should give you some consideration.

Consideration? I don't give two craps, they can go as fast as they think they can go if they are running hot/lights (or whatever their policy says). Just don't get in to an accident lol.

[mildot]

WOW talk about complete lack of judgement.

[T2C]

Consideration? I don't give two craps, they can go as fast as they think they can go if they are running hot/lights (or whatever their policy says). Just don't get in to an accident lol.

Same opinion here.

[ShortytheFirefighter]

As has been posted before, this isn't the first time and it won't be the last we see something like this happen. I would have liked to have seen the apparatus positioning, but if the driver was refusing to move the rig then I'm betting he was erring on the side of the safety of his crew and the patients. If I have to choose between getting arrested or protecting my crew I'll take the bracelets every time, because my guys are going home. I've also heard that the heads of both agencies are already meeting to eliminate this happening in the future.

As a driver/operator, my concern is being able to position my apparatus in a way to maximize the effectiveness of the blocking for the safety of the responding crew, period. If I'm able to do that and allow traffic to be able to get by safely, then I'm all for it. Sometimes the scene allows for that, sometimes it doesn't. It's up to the IC to work with State Patrol/Highway Patrol/local LE to figure out if a road needs to be shut down. If a road does have to be shut down, then there is an urgency for the crews to work as quickly as possible in order to get everyone off the road and get things opened up again. Cooperation (and a good dose of humility on both sides) is crucial in multi-agency responses like this.

[SteyrAUG]

So when I read the headline I figured: Offduty fireman, pulls up in his Dodge Ram in street clothes to render first aid, and there is a huge misunderstanding... I was shocked to see him in bunker gear at an actual accident...

I don't want to turn this into the typical anti cop thread - but - this really speaks to a "my way, or the highway" mentality on the part of the CHP officer (see what I did there). Even if he was right - one would think that he would have said to himself: "self, you are in the right, but the guy is a fire fighter, treating victims, and he is in uniform, and there are TV camera's rolling, and right or wrong, I'm going to look like an idiotic 'triple A with a badge' schmuck by arresting this guy... I am so glad I moved out of that crazy ass state...

Saved me a LOT of typing.

This guy did not get the "We're all in this together trying to help people" memo and he needs to find a more suitable occupation. Creating a friction / strain between LE and rescue workers (not to mention the public) is possibly one of the absolute worst things a "first responder" of any kind can do.

[kwelz]

actually we get tickets here at our Service if we do more than 80mph(70mph is Indiana Speed Limit) on an interstate, 70(60mph speed limit) on a state highway, and 50(35mph speed limit) on a state highway that runs through a town.

Let me guess. ISP every time?

[jwfuhrman]

Let me guess. ISP every time?

Thats who our service has write the tickets. The local city dept and county dept won't do it

[PD Sgt.]

While where I work we often joke about fire taking up three lanes to apply a band-aid, we also cede some authority if they are actively treating injuries or addressing hazards. They establish the room they feel they need to work safely. While we may ask how long they may need for the purpose of diverting traffic, we really don't try to hurry them, they are not trying to be out there any longer than they have to.

Fortunately, I have never seen anything like this, and if I did I would address it right away. Even if the FF was being an asshat, there is a way to do things in the public eye that involves a bit of decorum and common sense. If there is some kind of bona fide emergency that trumps the current emergency, then you explain that to the ranking personnel and let them deal with their people. Moving stuck traffic on the freeway ten minutes sooner than later is not such an emergency.

Most all of our FD personnel are pretty good about this kind of thing. They do get pretty testy about driving over their hoses though.....