521 replies to this topic

[njboy13]

Nah, they got a ton of cuts here too. Town nearby made the very stupid decision to completely shut down police-run EMS, leaving about 16 people (Including my brother) without a job to "Save Money". And guess what, saved no money. They broke their an ambulance within the first month. They hired completely incompetent, fresh out of the academy EMT's with no experience in EMS. As a result of their incompetency and complaints from police saying they're incompetent, they now have to have a full staffed engine run with the ambulance on every medical, costing only more money. And they're only paying more to have 4 or 5 more paid guys on duty, and have to pay full (ridiculously high) salary to a new officer, the EMS Captain. In addition to all the town and fire department expenses now, the residents also pay about $100-$150 more than they paid for police EMS.

Sorry if that turned into kind of a rant, but I just wanted to get my point across about how so many of these cuts to 'save money' only end up costing more money and don't help at all, like shutting down entire paid departments.

Anyway, just to give examples of other places, Cities like San Diego have a rotation for which few engine companies or entire stations get placed out of service monthly. Only increasing response times, and we all know that those extra few minutes can do more damage, or even be fatal.

[Sgt Alex4028]

Nah, they got a ton of cuts here too. Town nearby made the very stupid decision to completely shut down police-run EMS, leaving about 16 people (Including my brother) without a job to "Save Money". And guess what, saved no money. They broke their an ambulance within the first month. They hired completely incompetent, fresh out of the academy EMT's with no experience in EMS. As a result of their incompetency and complaints from police saying they're incompetent, they now have to have a full staffed engine run with the ambulance on every medical, costing only more money. And they're only paying more to have 4 or 5 more paid guys on duty, and have to pay full (ridiculously high) salary to a new officer, the EMS Captain. In addition to all the town and fire department expenses now, the residents also pay about $100-$150 more than they paid for police EMS.

Sorry if that turned into kind of a rant, but I just wanted to get my point across about how so many of these cuts to 'save money' only end up costing more money and don't help at all, like shutting down entire paid departments.

Anyway, just to give examples of other places, Cities like San Diego have a rotation for which few engine companies or entire stations get placed out of service monthly. Only increasing response times, and we all know that those extra few minutes can do more damage, or even be fatal.

It wasn't a rant at all, its useful information to know. Before now, i thought America wasn't really affected by the cuts. Its a horrible time at the moment for all generations, and I sincerely apologize for your brothers job loss. I had an interview with the NHS in england for an Ambulance Call taker.. and when I was told its not garunteed that I'll have the job long enough to get paid, I basically told them to stuff it. Its a very difficult time for business and family, and especially with the holiday that is literally within arms reach!

We had a story about a response time out here, It was a Category A shout where by the ambulance needed to be there within 8 mins. I believe the response car was there within 48 mins, and the actual ambulance arrived 1 hour after the RRV. Quite bad at the moment :/

[MCERT1]

I have a question for some of you folks across the pond.
I've been watching inside the ER here on BBC America. Why do HEMS ride in on ambulances with the regular medical crew?
i would have thought they would be reserved for helicopter flights, or do they also serve on the fly-cars too?

[randomperson139]

I have a question for some of you folks across the pond.
I've been watching inside the ER here on BBC America. Why do HEMS ride in on ambulances with the regular medical crew?
i would have thought they would be reserved for helicopter flights, or do they also serve on the fly-cars too?

Sometimes in places like London, it is quicker for an ambulance to get to a hospital than it is for a helicopter, so the HEMS Doctor will go on the ambulance, if required.
And yes, some Air Ambulances in the UK have Fly Cars. The HEMS team in London have, I think, a pair of Skoda Octavia VRS Cars. , the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, where I live, has a Mercedes ML 4x4 based where the helicopter is based.
The HEMS cars in London can sometimes be quicker than using a helicopter, but outside London, the cars are normally used in bad weather when the helicopter(s) can't fly.

[Sgt Alex4028]

I have a question for some of you folks across the pond.
I've been watching inside the ER here on BBC America. Why do HEMS ride in on ambulances with the regular medical crew?
i would have thought they would be reserved for helicopter flights, or do they also serve on the fly-cars too?

In the UK all rescue helicopters have a curfew that when it gets dark, the helicopter MUST be landed in an open area and can only be moved when it is light, regardless as to whether or not the helicopter has a patient.
HEMS use cars during this time, but due to the shear fact of the amount of HEMS doctors, its great to have so many out too.

[TheCadetForce]

In the UK all rescue helicopters have a curfew that when it gets dark, the helicopter MUST be landed in an open area and can only be moved when it is light, regardless as to whether or not the helicopter has a patient.
HEMS use cars during this time, but due to the shear fact of the amount of HEMS doctors, its great to have so many out too.

In the UK all rescue helicopters have a curfew that when it gets dark, the helicopter MUST be landed in an open area and can only be moved when it is light, regardless as to whether or not the helicopter has a patient.
HEMS use cars during this time, but due to the shear fact of the amount of HEMS doctors, its great to have so many out too.

The only Emergency helicopters allowed out at night are, RAF Search & Rescue, Royal Navy Search & Rescue and the Police.

[Sgt Alex4028]

The only Emergency helicopters allowed out at night are, RAF Search & Rescue, Royal Navy Search & Rescue and the Police.

Aye! That is correct!

[Xplorer4x4]

Third alarm fire in the county hre tonight. The commanding officer made it very clear not to put water on the natural gas fires. Why? Power was cut about 30 min maybe a bit less, before gas, yet they are run by the same company. Arent cutting the gas, cutting the power, and preliminary searches usually performed very early on in the incident?

[Newfoundking]

Why no water on the fires? It's a gas fire, which is not one that water's useful on

As for the cut off, however gas is sometimes harder to cut off that water, at least in my experience

[BritishArmyReserveCadets]

Also, gas fires burn so hot that the water evaporates before it can reach the fire, and that somehow increases the temperature of the fire, making it worse.

This is what happens if you put water onto it: (Know its Oil, but it still burns in kind of the same way)

[met police999]

Oh my god that was big

[Xandarb]

Lemme be a nerd for a little moment here.

So the thing with water and oil is, as you said, when the water gets near the fire it evaporates instantly.
This causes the newly created steam to shoot upwards and in the process the steam pulls some oil with it. That leads to that the small oil-particles pulled upwards get lots of oxygen and well, that eventually leads to this huge fireball.
Instead of water you should use foam or a sandlike stuff to try to stop the fire from getting oxygen. There are also techniques that involve high explosives that are affective against oilfires. I am no firefighter, so I don't know what they actually do, but that's what I've heard.
Thank you and good night!

[Newfoundking]

The most popular means of fighting oil and oil deritive fires is foam, it's cheap, easy and effective. Sand like stuff is the kinda stuff you'll see in smaller devices, such as some fire extinguishers, using this on a large scale would be hard to do. As for explosives, they're only used when it's them, or millions of lives, as there is so much potential for it going bad.

[Grim_Wizard]

Also, gas fires burn so hot that the water evaporates before it can reach the fire, and that somehow increases the temperature of the fire, making it worse.

No that's not what happens close, but not what happens. And it's very different for oil fires. The main issue with putting water on hydrocarbon fires is the issue of density. Water can behave strangely in these situations. Oil floats on water which is why water does very little against an oil fire. What happened there is what's know as boil over. The firemen used water to combat the oil fire. The oil rose to the top and the fire continued, as the fire continued the water evaporated or is turned into steam. When enough water turns into steam you have a powder keg at the bottom with a mass of burning oil on top. Boil over can then occur, which can be a massive explosion (As evidenced in the video) where the steam vents up into the air taking all of the burning oil with it, it's surface area increases so fast because there is so much fuel in the air (Which has been turned into small particles that are easy to burn). Pretty scary stuff.

[hunter42]

In the U.S, do drivers have to come to a full stop for emergency vehicles?

The direction that the fire engines are going in is fairly clear and they don't need to leave their side of the road, but most of the traffic coming towards them comes to a full stop - Even cars that are 10, 20 feet from the traffic queue stop.

[Grim_Wizard]

Both lanes of traffic unless divided by a median must pull over and come to a complete stop.

[ausavin26]

Both lanes of traffic unless divided by a median must pull over and come to a complete stop.

Though in South Philly it rarely happens

[met police999]

in the U.S. they have ten codes right i have forgotten what we use here in Britain

[search_destroy]

Yes, 10 codes.

[ausavin26]

I have a question, one day at a baseball game of mine I was at-bat and heard these sirens up in the hills in Center. I saw a motorycle speed past and 2 police car kill the lights and sirens. Why do they do that during a pursuit?