How American Fire Departments are Getting People Killed

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I blame the high rate of using the fire dept. for EMS calls on the privitization of ambulance services. I have never understood why ambulances aren’t a public emergency service like the fire and police departments.

7:00 the point of "emergency vehicles being able to use it for better response times" is even more effective as a defense of dedicated bus lanes because turns out, even the biggest fire trucks are supposed to fit on something meant for buses

Another thing about Roundabouts: in Britain you often see roundabouts whose central structure is a gentle mound painted a bright colour. This allows all sorts of less manoeuvrable vehicles to drive over the centre if they really need to, but still provides a traffic directing speed bump to normal sized vehicles

Rural American here. I have two things to add to this: A LOT of rural fire departments are actually purchasing imported, retired EU fire trucks, for 'EMS response and vehicle crash' calls. They still have massive water tenders, and some ladder trucks, but they're already moving towards smaller, more nimble vehicles as it is. Second thing. I JUST got hired as a City Bus driver. Our City busses are so wide that we do actually require a wider lane. However, the easy solution is a narrower bus.

I recently had a conversation with a traffic engineer about a 4-to-3 lane conversion in downtown Asheville with unprotected bike lanes. Bike advocates wanted the lanes protected. The traffic engineer asked what to remove from the street cross section to add the buffer. I suggested the center turn lane should be removed. Each time the group addressed her issue with removing the turn lane, there would be a new excuse. In order, she argued: 1. Without a center turn lane, the left turn radius will be wider, allowing turning vehicles to pick up more speed before hitting a pedestrian in the crosswalk, and reducing pedestrian safety. (what an ABSOLUTELY INSANE take) 2. The fire department won’t allow it 3. Not having a center turn lane will create congestion that slows down buses (they are already unusably bad, it’s a typical American small city bus system) 4. MUTCD and AASHTO require a center turn lane 5. It would be politically unpopular with city council to remove the turn lane. And we finally arrived at the real reasons. Taking away space from cars is politically unpopular, and the people who design these streets have no ability to weigh and balance tradeoffs.

I live next to a fire station in the UK; Ambulances and police cars are common sights around town, with or without sirens blaring, but fire engines are such a rare sight that fully-grown adults will still stop to watch them drive by with childlike wonder. It's baffling to think of them having to respond to every incident an ambulance could've dealt with on it's own instead.

The real reason American fire trucks are so big is to transport all the sexy calendar photoshoot equipment.

One of the most insane sentences for me was "cars need to be able to pass Firetrucks When they are used." as an European firefighter the first thing we do on all streets except highways is to block the whole street, because we are going to rub around the cars and are going to run waterlines all over the road. You will never have enough water on your truck. In case of a real fire the first thing everyone does. exept for the Attack team is to get more water from hydrants.

This week on the "All of America's problems are self-inflicted and rooted in hubris" show

The "fire depts respond to more car crashes than fire situations" plot twist would boost this video to 7.7 imdb at least.

This video just triggered a childhood memory I have of a picture book where a tiny fire truck who got bullied by the other trucks was able to save the day because he was the only one small enough to fit into the street where the fire was happening.

It's not just about the frequency of the siren; it's also the fact that they only use two distinct tones, either higher or lower in pitch. This design makes it much easier to pinpoint the direction of the sound and determine the speed and distance of the vehicle, whether it's approaching or moving away. I've watched videos unrelated to fire trucks, where people in the U.S., who've lived there their entire lives, say, "Oh, an emergency vehicle—where's it coming from?" just seconds before it crosses right in front of them at an intersection. In Germany, I can hear a siren from a minute away, and I'm usually confident it's coming my way, with a good sense of its direction.

"A woman having a heart attack does not require 1,000 gallons of water" I mean you gotta make sure she's hydrated

As a firefighter in the United States, this video is quite accurate of the current situation. One aspect that I don't think was covered enough is another explanation as to why some fire departments respond with an engine/truck to a medical emergency. In order to achieve lower staffing minimums, some departments will staff an engine with 2 people and an ambulance with 2 people. While 2 people staffed in an ambulance isn't out of the ordinary, it is insufficient for medical emergencies that could benefit from more personnel such as CPR or emergencies with multiple non-critical patients. With a shortage of ambulances, requesting another ambulance solely for the personnel is not ideal. Additionally, 2 people in an engine/truck is almost always insufficient for any type of fire incident. As a result, some departments dispatch stations to calls rather than individual apparatus with the expectation that everyone goes. This also allows for more flexibility in the event that another emergency arises during a call. That's one of the reasons many fire department ambulances will have a comportment for turnout gear. To be clear, this is not ideal for the reasons discussed in the video, but it should help explain another reason why fire engines/trucks respond to medical emergencies in many areas of the United States.

I watched this because I felt somewhat triggered by the title, then realized that was probably a good indication I was about to put myself into an echo chamber and should at least hear the opposition before I did so . Very glad I did. I worked in news for 3.5 years. While that did nothing to endear police to me, it did give me huge respect for firefighters. I live in Washington state, and the fires every year have been tremendous. Washington DNR has gone to great lengths restructuring wildfire responses and off-season preparations to increase fire readiness, and it honestly shows. I don't want to speak too soon, because we're super dry this year and fire season is expected to last through October, but this is the first year I can remember in nearly a decade where we haven't had a week of not seeing the sun due to wildfire smoke. Our state is brimming with fuel, but they've done an amazing job responding quickly. The first wildfire with DNR response in the area we had this year was back in March, but my coworker thought the nearby fire in July was the first. I explained no, there have been dozens, they just literally haven't been newsworthy due to the quick and efficient responses. The city responses are also incredibly effective. When I was in news, part of my job was listening for breaking on the scanner. We had so many house and commercial structure fires. Yes, firefighters responded primarily to medical calls, but there was a confirmed structure fire almost every day, usually more than one. But I rarely said anything because almost every fire is out within 10 minutes from the time of the call. They're incredibly efficient. A look at the state's firefighter response from 2022 (I didn't check for 2023, sorry) shows nearly 31,000 fire responses, resulting in 81 deaths and nearly $330 million in property damage. It accounts for only 3.2 percent of all responses, but when fires happen, I know very well how important it is to have the resources to respond quickly. Also, my room caught fire when I was in high school, and they were very nice to me after they ruled out arson. Lol. All that to say, I am aware of my biases, and the massive respect I have for firefighters made me resistant to hearing criticism. However, I found your points not only credible, but also reasonable. When looking at the broader issue of street design, at the laundry list of flaws in American roadways, and at comparable vehicles elsewhere in the world, it is very clear our emergency vehicles do need modification. I can also vouch for the extensive number of times emergency vehicles had to find alternate routes or hike across rural properties because there was no access for vehicles of that size. And given how much of an issue wildfires have been lately, which are often sparked by farm equipment, more compact engines with easier maneuverability make sense. It is more sensible to modify the vehicles than it is to keep widening the streets. I wonder if this issue could be raised to the IAFF. As an international union, they are less concerned with catering exclusively to American sensibilities, and they take firefighter safety very seriously. They have encouraged districts to phase out all gear with PFAS in it and established safety protocols for stations unable to purchase new gear. Given how many emergency workers are killed on the way to a scene or at a scene due to traffic accidents, I believe this is something they would consider looking into.... 🤔

My house has been hit by cars three times in the last three years. After the first time it happened, we asked the city for any of a number of improvements to prevent it from happening again. Speed bumps were denied explicitly because the fire department would not okay them. After the third time, and a scathing local news story about the city’s inaction, the city is finally going to install some speed cushions next month. But only one on each side of the intersection, because of course, the fire department would not allow for more than that.

First rule of design: "If you design something for many diferent roles it would be suboptimal for all of them".

Not only do we Europeans have firetrucks for fires, but specializes trucks for specific cases like car accidents, etc.. They don't have to be that big or have to carry everything with them.

If you actually want smaller American fire trucks to happen, the solution is convincing Hasbro execs to make a Transformers anime with Optimus Prime as a Japanese fire truck.