Quote:
Originally Posted by zx10guy
I think it's municipality and even down to the department level on how a situation such as this would be handled. I know at my former station where I attained driver status for the BLS ambulance rigs, I would not have been allowed to plow through a parked car that was obstructing my path even though the station carries insurance on the rigs along with in house legal counsel. I don't know if it's any different with the squad trucks at my former station.
I've read a bunch of the Youtube comments where many of them were pounding their chests saying they could have driven the Engine through that gap easily or would have pushed the car out of the way. Yet none of them are or have been EMS drivers of said apparatus'. I can only speculate that the driver of the Engine felt the risk for personal liability was too much to attempt driving the Engine through the available gap.
|
There would be consequences to that kind of action. If the truck is damaged and then can't respond have they accomplished anything? The principal of emergency response is to arrive, if you have an accident either intentional or not and don't arrive you have failed to do your job. I suspect the truck has a reverse gear, perhaps finding another route would've been the prudent action rather than sitting there for over a minute riding the siren and airhorn. Isn't the mantra of the fire dept, "seconds save lives"?