EMS responding to fire standbys

[Don1977]

I here this everyday where I work, other companies get calls and its "station xxx acknowledges call, standing by in station"

This happened just 20 minutes ago for a odor of natural gas at a sewage plant, VFD arrives with an active gas leak, and of course the EMS is standing by, VFD gets mad because thy arent tehre and requested them to the scene, the EMS was kinda mad they had to respond.

Now I have to respond to every call my VFD in this town go to. I agree with taht. Sure it could be a wire down or small trash fire, or the 5 alarm building fire or train derailment. I feel that no matter what it is, ANYBODY can get hurt, so why not respond. Isnt that what you are there to do?? Isnt that what you are paid to do???

So sorry if taht brush fire interupted your precious playstation game or the 4 AM CO alarm interupted your sleep. GET OVER IT! thats what you get paid to do!

It just shows me who is lazy and who is not!

Now what are your opinions about this??

[irme]

Should fire go to every medical EMS gets because "it could be" a cardiac arrest or "it could be" an entrapment?

There is no perfect answer, but I am of the opinion that no it isn't necessary. In fact its quite often a pure waste of recourses. In saying that there are always times when it would be entirely appropriate for an ambulance to be on scene - just in case!

[Dustdevil]

Firefighting is significantly less risky than a great many of the occupations that our citizens perform day in and day out, and we don't stand by for those people. I don't see how we can justify providing a special service for them that we don't provide for the average taxpayer.

Not to mention the fact that, our response to the incident is commonly more dangerous than the incident iteslf. No justification for that silliness.

Ever seen a gas explosion? I have, and I have one less friend to show for it. If you were to stay a safe distance from that gas leak, you might as well still be in the station anyhow.

[strippel]

We respond to too many "fire standbys".

Although some companies modify it, we have a county protocol to be dispatched on working fires, high risk alarms (nursing homes, high rises, factories that make dangerous stuff, etc). And gas leaks.

Unless there are injuries or entrapment, we respond without lights and sirens. We usually don't make it to the scene before we are cancelled.

We are dispatched on too many fire calls now, I wouldn't want to go on all of them.

That said, every now and again it is fun to pull hose, or throw ladders for the fire monkeys.

[Don1977]

We respond to too many "fire standbys".

Although some companies modify it, we have a county protocol to be dispatched on working fires, high risk alarms (nursing homes, high rises, factories that make dangerous stuff, etc). And gas leaks.

Unless there are injuries or entrapment, we respond without lights and sirens. We usually don't make it to the scene before we are cancelled.

We are dispatched on too many fire calls now, I wouldn't want to go on all of them.

That said, every now and again it is fun to pull hose, or throw ladders for the fire monkeys.

I agree with you...

[Coach Hohman]

We are dispatched for any working fires, any fires in heavily populated areas (a kind term for trailer park), any at risk situations (gas leaks, CO detectors, nursing home smoke alarms). We respond to almost all working fires non L&S unless dispatch cannot confirm the family is standing by outside of the house. We've arrived on scene and seen grandma Mae trying to rescue her cats inside her fully engulfed house. If they can confirm that the victims are safe, we go non-L&S, and usually take our time anyway so we can stock a couple coolers of water and gatorade. Our FD responds to all of our calls, but they're all medical first responders. On more than one occasion I've taken one with me on a diff. breathing or something just to give them some experience in the ambulance. I would rather break them in that way than on a code, or a bad trauma. Overall though, I think we have a pretty good system....but don't we all

[AnthonyM83]

We do standbys on a case by case basis, but as far as I know it's for possible victims.Once they're sure there aren't any, I've usually been cleared. Dumpster fire = No ambulance. Dumpster Fire next to apartment building = ambulance.

[Chief1C]

Considering the things firemen conjure up to do to themselves and each other.. every incident.

[paramedicmike]

You think it's laziness that keeps people in the station? Really?!

What are the vast majority of fire calls? Alarms. Do we really need to head out for every alarm? Isn't that what the FD is for? And if the FFs on scene of an alarm get hurt just what were they doing?

Further, if you feel that no matter what people can get hurt, then why not have a personal ambulance assigned to everyone out there? After all, I might fall down the stairs...or get in an accident...or trip over my dog and smack my head on the coffee table. It could happen at any time according to your logic. So why not?

It's silly to send an ambulance for every fire call. They won't do anything but sit in the ambulance and wait for all the FFs to get tired and go home which will still elicit the same lazy comments as posted above. So it seems pretty smart to sit in the station and wait until they're needed (and remain available for the public at large) instead of wasting time by committing themselves to an incident where they're not needed.

-be safe

[emt322632]

Unless it is a confirmed working structure fire or another incident requiring an ambulance, I believe it is unnecessary to take an ambulance out of service for every fire call.

As has been said, by the logic that no matter what everyone can get hurt, we should have an ambulance standing by for all citizens 24/7.

I've heard logic like this before when debating priority response with people. Some contend that we should respond priority to every call because "it could be bad and you can't trust dispatch information all the time..." Granted, sometimes dispatch information can't be trusted, but my safety and the safety of my crew comes first. If I get dispatched to a call for a child with a scraped knee, or granny stubbed her toe, better believe I'm not killing myself.