Activity in a Hostile Area

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ralph L. Carr IV on November 4, 2009 at 9:06am

I`m EMS not fire. When a situation gets hostile, it`s only common sence. Get yourself and your partner out of the situation as soon as you can. If at all possible, take your patient with you. In EMS situations I have found that you can usually talk your way thru when it gets chitty, as long as the patient is a friend of the chit tossing group. I worked inner city for 5 years. We only had to bail a few times. When in doubt, gert yourself out.

Where I work now we are usually on our own, no rescue backup. LEO`s are always a radio call away and if central has any idea the scene is chitty, we don`t go in until LEO`s clear the scene of the chit.

It all boils down to common sence. Keep your eyes open at all times and keep your eyes on each other`s backs. When you go in to a house, make a mental note of doors, windows, ect for potential escape routes and ALWAYS be on the lookout for safety hazzards. That goes for ALL calls. Not just potential dangerous calls, GSW, assult, ect.. ANY run can turn to chit in a heartbeat. Never let your guard down and never leave your partner alone.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by David Reznik on November 4, 2009 at 9:09am

I undertand, but the firefighters cannot leave the area ant continue treating like EMS...

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ralph L. Carr IV on November 4, 2009 at 9:18am

David,

I didn`t realize until I read your profile. You are in Israel. Talk about potential hazzards. From what I understand, your country has been fighting it`s very existance from the day it was formed. The hazzards we may encounter here in the US are paled by the potential hazzards you face every day. Our potentail hazzards might be a mad husband or knife yielding wife, maybe a crackhead going off. They are ujsually contained in the house or car where our patient is. It`s very rural where I work, so our hazzards are more along the lines of domestic abuse or fight situation, not large groups. The main hazzards we see are dangerous equipment ( like a pt trapped in a piece of farm equipment), traffic on highways, fireground scenes.

Be safe my Isreali Bro....Be ready for just about anything. Adapt and react.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by David Reznik on November 4, 2009 at 9:51am

I volunteer in Tel Aviv fire department, and the population is normal overall. We did had some cases of stone throwing (usually by Arabs) on our trucks, firefighters and citizens

http://www.hnn.co.il/gallery8652.html - a firefighter was injured
http://www.hnn.co.il/gallery6012.html - civilian's vehicle
http://www.hnn.co.il/gallery7611.html - civilian's vehicle
http://www.hnn.co.il/gallery7071.html - civilian's vehicle

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Loyd Dittfurth on November 4, 2009 at 10:08am

holly crap my advice get you a bean bag gun mount it right beside your deck gun and sit the worm up there when they throw stones light em up

thats just a lil advice from a small town in texas

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ralph L. Carr IV on November 4, 2009 at 10:16am

Leave it to a Texan to advise the BIG GUN theory.....lol.....We need more Texans in Michigan!

Loyd, you do know why TX doesn`t fall into the Gulf don`t ya? Cause OK sucks..... ;)~

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Loyd Dittfurth on November 4, 2009 at 10:46am

true very true

but remember my big gun would use bean bags or paint balls or somthin non lethal that will make them think twice

michigan isnt it cold up there I am looking for a job some where out of the texas panhandle

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ralph L. Carr IV on November 4, 2009 at 11:34am

Ah Loyd, it`s not so cold today. It`s 36 right now......lol....

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Loyd Dittfurth on November 4, 2009 at 12:51pm

its 65 here and im fixn to get on my bike

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on November 4, 2009 at 10:49am

Basically as Ralph states, we are leaving the scene until it can be made safe. If this is a fire and a riot breaks out, we leave, we'll drop what we have and get out of the area until it can be secured. If the fire burns down several buildings because we left, so be it. Had there not been a reason for us to leave we would have stayed to finish the job right.

Luckily here, we don't have the same issues as you do in Israel, but there have been incidents of firefighters getting attacked on a fire scene and they have pulled back until the police got control of the situation. In Milwaukee during the riots they had there in the late 60's, police were being sent out before the fire rigs and the fire rigs staged until the scene was safe. This meant the fires grew, but we are firefighters, not law enforcement, we don't have the same training or equipment and there is no fire worth the life of a firefighter, especially from a hostile crowd.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Capt.Alex Arnold on November 4, 2009 at 11:01am

Well said Crabby, Yes the SOP for just about every department in the USA is the same when it comes to scene safety. It doesn't matter if it is EMS, fire, hazmat, or tech resq the answer is the same...GET OUT. The number one priority is you and your team. I wanna save a life and make a difference, that is why most of us are in this service. There are enough times when we take "well calculated" risks that are backed up by our training and experiences. There are just sometimes though when you have to vacate the premises and say "let's re-evaluate or strategy and tactics."
The most important thing that I can tell you, and it gets drilled into my crew, "It is not our emergency, so don't make it ours!" If you become part of the problem then it is harder to mitigate the scene.
AHHHH but the devil's advocate in me says this to. Be ready to back up your actions. Document it, radio log, what ever you need to do to show why you did it.
Be safe and learn something new today.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ralph L. Carr IV on November 4, 2009 at 11:33am

AMEN captn`.

It`s not OUR emergency unless we screw up and make it our emergency.

▶ Reply to This

• First
• Previous
• Next
• Last