Situational awareness on a winter interstate accident

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Pucker factor up to 11, multiple times.

Those officers did an amazing job of keeping their heads on a swivel and reacting in a lifesaving manner.

 
Man this video makes so anxious, but also happy to law enforcement getting after immediate patient care.

We send two heavy apparatus, ambulance, and BC on every MVC on the highways here. It is usually overkill and sometimes that's just too many resources converging at once but it is very nice to air "we need a full closure" and have the second heavy piece pull out and block all lanes.
 
Woof...no triggers there...wondering why they didn't just stop traffic after the semi slid into the first wreck. Unbelievable no one was killed.
 
Wow. Pucker factor for sure. Glad no one was killed.
Unfortunately, this video is a small sample. People drive like idiots all the time.
 
County resources send 1 engine, 1 heavy rescue, and 1 chief officer to every MVC. On the interstates, we usually get another engine coming from the other direction. City sends an engine to every MVC. EMS sends an ambulance. Trooper sends a car or two when they get there.

Used to think it was overkill, because in NJ, we routinely handled MVCs on the 8 lane NJ turnpike with a trooper car and a BLS ambulance.... 6 months ago our engine was hit by an SUV at a crash on the interstate with 0 injuries. The engine is still OOS getting repaired, and the investigation showed that the drive didn't even slow down. Suffice it to say, if the engine hadn't been there, we would have been holding LODD funerals for at least 2 FFs.

I'm officially a believer.
 
I remember several years ago we had a FF that was struck and killed while on the shoulder of an on-ramp getting his bunker gear on. For about 6 months after that incident for every traffic collision we had the entire road would be closed and we would have 4+ engines and well over half a dozen police units on scene, even for small incidents. That slowly faded away and now the responses are back to their standard.
 
Currently more than half of our district has no shoulders (picture jersey barriers on both fog lines) on the interstate. If we block anything (or worse do a full closure), we hardly move faster than walking speed. The engines can't even make it as there is just no space if traffic isn't moving. And mutual aid to come opposing is a long away in the direction that would be of use. Two more years of this we're told, makes winter's v sucky.
 
We send a single engine to auto accidents. Unless there's reported entrapment, then the 3 closest Apparatus (it could end up 3 engines, 2 engines and a Quint/Ladder, 2 Quints/Ladders and an engine, it just depends on location).

But we dont even dispatch an engine to every single accident. I'm not sure what the dispatch protocols are, but often just a single EMS unit with PD will respond (I remember during our ridealongs in the NREMT part of Academy, we had an auto accident two blocks away from a downtown fire station (engine and ladder) and we back boarded two patients and loaded them both up and transported without ever calling for Fire). I think it depends on how the call is initially routed, if it goes to PD first they'll just call for the ambo. I think if the call gets routed to EMS first they'll call us... sometimes. Right now all three services dispatches are completely separate. Theres plans in the works for a new, state-of-the-art dispatch center that'll have all 3, so maybe that'll affect response matrices when that goes into effect...
 
DesertMedic66 said:
I remember several years ago we had a FF that was struck and killed while on the shoulder of an on-ramp getting his bunker gear on. For about 6 months after that incident for every traffic collision we had the entire road would be closed and we would have 4+ engines and well over half a dozen police units on scene, even for small incidents. That slowly faded away and now the responses are back to their standard.
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This is how it goes 99% of the time.
 
Jim37F said:
We send a single engine to auto accidents. Unless there's reported entrapment, then the 3 closest Apparatus (it could end up 3 engines, 2 engines and a Quint/Ladder, 2 Quints/Ladders and an engine, it just depends on location).

But we dont even dispatch an engine to every single accident. I'm not sure what the dispatch protocols are, but often just a single EMS unit with PD will respond (I remember during our ridealongs in the NREMT part of Academy, we had an auto accident two blocks away from a downtown fire station (engine and ladder) and we back boarded two patients and loaded them both up and transported without ever calling for Fire). I think it depends on how the call is initially routed, if it goes to PD first they'll just call for the ambo. I think if the call gets routed to EMS first they'll call us... sometimes. Right now all three services dispatches are completely separate. Theres plans in the works for a new, state-of-the-art dispatch center that'll have all 3, so maybe that'll affect response matrices when that goes into effect...
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Wow. I’m surprised to hear that. So if I’m in Honolulu and I call 911... who gets my call?
 
SandpitMedic said:
Wow. I’m surprised to hear that. So if I’m in Honolulu and I call 911... who gets my call?
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I'm not entirely sure who runs the PSAP, last year I actually had to call 911 myself, got ...someone (they didn't ID specific agency, just "911"), I asked for PD, and I got put on hold while they transferred me. So idk if theres a separate desk at PD dispatch or elsewhere, or if the initial call goes between the different agencies, then transferred as appropriate? Def makes sense as to why they wanna spend the money to consolidate everyone heh
 
Jim37F said:
I'm not entirely sure who runs the PSAP, last year I actually had to call 911 myself, got ...someone (they didn't ID specific agency, just "911"), I asked for PD, and I got put on hold while they transferred me. So idk if theres a separate desk at PD dispatch or elsewhere, or if the initial call goes between the different agencies, then transferred as appropriate? Def makes sense as to why they wanna spend the money to consolidate everyone heh
Click to expand...
Hmmm. Yeah. Thanks for the info.
 
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