The madness of idling?

[Sin City Medic]

I'm going to comment on this topic because my company is pushing this whole "green" idea with the hidden message of saving money. I work in Las Vegas were today was 115 degrees. Anyone with a brain knows that heat is amplified through windows and interior car temps can reach into the mid to high hundreds EASILY. So by my company telling me to "not idle" is, to me, saying we could really care less about your safety and we'd rather save money. The fact is that I, and my partner come first. I'm useless to a patient if I myself am suffering from heat exhaustion. Lets not forget that it's hot enough here that the AC can't actually keep up with the riding temp in the rigs to begin with. With the AC on full blast the interior of the truck registers a cool 98 degrees, I took it today for kicks.

[a_shane2_go]

At my service and the one prior to this up here in canada it is policy to high idle units while running lights etc on emerg scene's due to mechanics orders. I never undertstood it because at low idle we even achieved "charging" of the batteries (yay for electrical displays) however if it were to decrease wear on the engine this now makes sense.

As for roasting in temps i dont have to worry about this as we are stationed 100% of the time, however as an arguing point. Check your meds they are supposed to be stored at a certain temp. Up here most are between 15 celcius and 30 celcius (so tops out around 90 degree's) anything higher or lower and your actually decreasing the expiry of your drugs!

(P.S. diesel is around $1.43 a liter here, so around $5.72 a gallon.) :x

[Lone Star]

With studies that have been done showing how fast and high temps inside a vehicle can get (used primarilly when theres a case of child endangerment/neglect) also apply to adults!

I hate to say it, but it looks like your company's 'no idle policy' is in direct violation of OSHA/NIOSHA guidelines for safety!

[mrmeaner]

Sad part is, if it were a vehicle that had animals in it all day, the company would probably be fined for having such a policy. :x

[mdtaylor]

Our trucks fast idle at post (with brief moments of the driver idling down simply to change the monotonous tone of the engine noise) for two reasons. First, for the climate control needs of medications, and second, so there is no wondering if this beast will start without shore power. It's really embarrassing to have to tell dispatch that your rig won't start. And even more so to tell the family the reason for the delayed response.

[fireflymedic]

I am curious whether you run as a basic truck, basic equipped ALS, or ALS truck. If an ALS or ALS equipped truck, the excessive heat is a concern on medications, one that I can think of in particular is Ativan. It is a drug which should be refrigerated or is very date sensitive (however, if refrig is a possibility, then it is preferred). I would be cautious though with the stability of any medication left inside a truck which can easily reach temps of 120 or better in the sun or heat. At our service, we pull our bags off the truck between runs to ensure the stability of medications and keep them out of the heat. yeah, it's a pain, but I'd rather have inconvenience than ineffective or sub par medications. We are station based, but frequently spend most of the day out doing runs. The only place we don't idle is at the hospital (if we do, we have to connect to the exhaust system which is a pain, so we just don't do it). In the winter, same rules apply, the bags are pulled due to cold and we keep small heaters which are plugged in along with heating pads to maintain warm fluids.

As far as posting in certain areas, how well does that improve run times? Do you move to provide coverage as the trucks go out or do you stay at the same station all the time? We "stage" occasionally when we have no coverage in one area of the county, we'll place a truck there until another truck is in that area of the county which is based at that station but that is the only time. I'm just curious to hear how that works as two services near us do that, but we do not.

Stay safe out there !

[dahlio]

As far as posting in certain areas, how well does that improve run times? Do you move to provide coverage as the trucks go out or do you stay at the same station all the time? We "stage" occasionally when we have no coverage in one area of the county, we'll place a truck there until another truck is in that area of the county which is based at that station but that is the only time. I'm just curious to hear how that works as two services near us do that, but we do not.

Stay safe out there !

Actually works quite well for my company. During the day, we have 5 BLS EMS Trucks, and 2 Transport Trucks. 2 stay at the hospital, and 3 have satellite stations. 1 thats at the hospital is a backup/mutual aid truck, which will stage in between the hospital and the coverage area that the truck went out in. The two transport trucks will also stage if all heck breaks loose, and more than 5 BLS units are needed. Many times I've been working transport, and had to run an EMS call. My company will drop a transport in a heartbeat, to have it run EMS, and provide coverage. It's mostly used where I am to provide better response times if another one goes out, and the primary truck is busy.

[stcommodore]

For those of you who have to stage, it will be interesting to see if the time comes when it is more cost effective to actually build proper stations for the Ambulances then it is to burn fuel from idling.

Thats probably the must uneducated thing you could say! Dynamic deployment is probably one of the most progressive means to respond to call volume and call location. Planning where you know the demand will be, covering large areas that are stripped of units with a unit in a central location and more are the best way to get care to a patient as quick as possible.

[paramedicmike]

Thats probably the must uneducated thing you could say! Dynamic deployment is probably one of the most progressive means to respond to call volume and call location. Planning where you know the demand will be, covering large areas that are stripped of units with a unit in a central location and more are the best way to get care to a patient as quick as possible.

Is this sarcasm? Or are you being serious? I'm not very good at picking up on internet sarcasm, either.

If you're being serious, can you please provide evidence, in a separate thread so as not to hijack this one, that what you're advocating works.

If you're being sarcastic, how about using those goofy emoticons a little more liberally so we know that you really are, in fact, being sarcastic.

-be safe

[stcommodore]

Lets go back to the heart of the issue, are we willing to cut costs and save fuel at the risk of delaying response times?