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Washington,DC Fire Truck Crash Prompts Policy Changes
- Thread starter mikeindabronx
- Start date
I don't get this. Why is it any safer to establish a policy that requires 2nd, 3rd due and special units to stop 2 blocks from the fire or incident location and wait until a preliminary signal or report is received from the incident commander with instructions where to respond into.
"Specifically, the policy change requires backup crews to stop their trucks two blocks from the scene of a fire, until the incident commander determines whether additional resources need to be committed to the building that's on fire. At that point, the incident commander will provide specific direction to firefighters and tell them exactly where they should go."
How does this reduce any potential accidents? More important, won't it delay the 2nd and 3rd due engines and trucks when they could be continuing into fire locations? And where do you stop and wait - pre-designated staging areas?
"Specifically, the policy change requires backup crews to stop their trucks two blocks from the scene of a fire, until the incident commander determines whether additional resources need to be committed to the building that's on fire. At that point, the incident commander will provide specific direction to firefighters and tell them exactly where they should go."
How does this reduce any potential accidents? More important, won't it delay the 2nd and 3rd due engines and trucks when they could be continuing into fire locations? And where do you stop and wait - pre-designated staging areas?
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Is this the same jurisdiction that had apparatus drive around at night to prevent crime?
mack said:
mack, I'm with you on this. Stopping two blocks from a fire and waiting for instructions to come in sure doesn't make any sense to me. Most of us know it is the first few minutes of a fire when the quick action of the on scene firefighters can have the most effect on saving lives or property. For companies to park and wait is putting civilian lives, as well as firefighters lives in danger.
I certainly respect the firefighters of the D.C. Fire Department and I'm in no position of telling them how to run their fire department. No doubt they have saved many lives in the job they do. It is one of the busiest fire departments in the country. But after seeing this new policy, "I just don't understand it either".
Grump, yes I believe you are correct. The DCFD was the department that put the companies out in the street as crime fighters in the form of civilian policing.