NEWS ARTICLES

"Engine 1 screamed down 67th Avenue, headed toward a fire. The traffic was rush-hour heavy and Fire Department driver Joe Smith steered the 35,000 pound truck into an oncoming traffic lane.

According to Fire Department policy, Smith should have been driving no more than 20 mph. Police estimate his speed at nearly three times that. When an impaired driver turned his two-door Nissan in front of the fire truck, Smith couldn't stop. He slammed into the driver's door at 57 mph. The 25 year old driver of the Nissan was killed. The accident was Smith's 7th in a fire vehicle.

After the fire truck hit the Nissan, it rolled another 360 feet, taking out a power pole and two trees before it stopped. The $400,000 truck was totaled. Police reports say Smith's speed was a factor."
(Taken from actual news story, only the names have been changed.)

A recent study in this major metropolitan city indicated that nearly 64% of all driving accidents were deemed preventable. The same Fire Department noted in the newspaper article, experienced a fatal accident in June 2002, and a serious injury accident in January 2004. Both occurred when firefighters entered intersections against a red light. In September 2003, a firefighter in the same Fire Department was driving too fast and rolled a ladder truck. Only the driver of the ladder truck was given a ticket and had to attend a defensive driving course.

Since 2002, this city has paid out almost $4,000,000 to civilians in auto liability claims stemming from Fire Department accidents, plus an additional $730,000 to fix fire vehicles. This doesn't include the $863,500 to replace the ladder truck or the $400,000 to replace the fire engine recently destroyed.

Comments by several readers of the article are really telling about the culture in the fire service. Most of them acknowledged that they either are drivers of emergency vehicles or have been drivers of emergency vehicles. Virtually every one of the commentators stated that other drivers should be on the watch for emergency vehicles and move out of the way.

So, what can you do about this?

1. The primary responsibility of the emergency vehicle operator is to get the vehicle safely to the scene of the emergency. If we crash in route, we can't help the citizens who originally invited us to their home. Safety is always the priority before speed. We win, and the citizens win.
   
2. The second responsibility of the emergency vehicle operator is to make sure the crew in the vehicle gets to and back from the scene without injury. If we crash a rig, chances are pretty good that at least one of the good girls and boys wearing Nomex, will be injured, especially if they aren’t wearing their seatbelts.
   
3. Drivers of emergency vehicles whether volunteer, paid on call, or career, must be professional, and vigilant. Since we are reminded on a daily basis that citizens do not pay attention to our warning devices, we need to realize that they will do strange things. The only actions we can control are our own. Drive assuming that others are not paying attention to your warning devices, because they probably aren't.
   
4. The person riding the right hand seat needs to get their head out of the on-board computer or map book. The right hand seat person should be doing more than depressing the seat cushion. (In the old days, this individual got to press the siren floor button, and blow the air horn). This person needs to be a second set of eyes for the driver. Both people in the cab need to confirm that every intersection is clear before proceeding through it. Talk to each other, and not about last night's ball game.
   
5. Since the person riding the right hand seat is often an officer, or if not, still has the responsibility of an officer, then that person needs act like an officer. What ever happened to the officer yelling, "Slow down you are going to get us killed." Or, "Stop, before you enter the intersection. Let's make sure all other cars have stopped before we go through." Officers are responsible for the entire crew. The only way they go home is if you don't have a crash.
   
6. Budget limitations are no reason not to have proper initial and on-going emergency vehicle operator training. How would you like to be the Fire Chief who has to say, "Gee Mrs. Jones, we are sorry that we drove through the red light at 20 miles over the speed limit and killed your husband and two kids, but the city won't give us the money to train our drivers?"

One of the best means to train drivers on how to handle an intersection is the ESIP training program, INTERACT. The program is free to ESIP clients and has saved many lives over the years and continues to be a valuable tool in the reduction of intersection type collisions. In addition, our full EVOC program is available to our clients at no cost. This in-depth training program includes a six hour workshop including videos and other training materials and four hours of hands on driving using your own vehicles under the watchful eyes of ESIP certified instructors.

In order to access either of these programs, please contact your agent or our Loss Control Customer Service Line at 1-800-822-3747 Ext. 176.