Emergency Questions

[MCERT1]

Would a tazer have the same affect if you shot someone point blank with it?

 

yep

 

A lot of models can be used as a stun guns (without shooting out the prongs). The only things that will really alters their effectiveness are drugs and alcohol.

[theocd]

Or a thick jumper

 

The OC-D

[Ace]

Should people dial fire if they see a huge cloud of black smoke?

I see many youtube videos of fires and a huge smoke forming and wondered, wouldn't there be so many calls to 911 because people see smoke? most of the time the fire depts already there...

[MCERT1]

As a general rule of thumb, it's better to be safe than sorry. We get a lot of calls about the same accidents and fires, I think my record was something around 25 calls in less than 2 minutes. Sometimes we get them after fire department crews are already on location (which I always find kind of funny). The dispatcher will liekly try to figure out where you're seeing the smoke from, and if they aren't aware of the source, they'll send a crew to investigate. Normally it's very easy for us to figure out if it is an ongoing call, or some sort of controlled burn, which in my area has to be called into our dispatch center.  It's a pretty normal occurrence for us because the government will burn huge tracks of marshland,to prevent uncontrolled fires.

[Ace]

Do you have to once be a constable to become a detective or SWAT member?

 

What happens if there's a bomb threat at dispatch central, police, fire, ems stations all at once?

Would the city go into chaos

 

Why do firetrucks always come with ambulances?

Because they're trained in first aid and to assist with manpower.

Why do firetrucks come with ambulances when police are already on scene with the ambulance?

I don't know, police are trained in first aid and can offer manpower too...

[met police999]

1)yes 2)it would be organised and they would be prepared

[Handsup!]

Yup, You can never go straight to SWAT from a Constable. You need to be able to enforce the law normally before you do it aggressively.

[Ace]

If a robber is cycling away on his bike and your chasing him on foot, are you allowed to tackle him giving the person serious injuiries?

Or is it not worth hospitalizing someone over a robbery? I know if it's not a robber, but a murder, you would tackle them...

[Fred03]

Tackle him of course. He is resisting arrest anyway on top of the original robbery so yeah, tackle him.

[Handsup!]

Serious injuries? I wouldn't tackle someone if they would have that. He may be a robber but take into account he should at least be considered safety-wise.

 

Perhaps a taser?

[met police999]

wait hold on you say you wouldn't tackle him cause he could get injured but you would tase him while he's on the bike that's asking for someone to be potentially killed

[Ace]

Is there special drivers for firetrucks? A very pro driver that can't fight fires but just drive.

[MCERT1]

Is there special drivers for firetrucks? A very pro driver that can't fight fires but just drive.

 

Many agencies designate the driver/engineer position for each truck. Once on scene the driver operates the pump or the aerial on the truck. In professional departments, it's often a separate rank above regular firefighters. In my volunteer fire department, and many others, the position is filled by any members that possess the proper certifications.

[Ace]

Why do firefighters get the little license plate addon that goes ontop or beneath your regular license plate but police and EMS don't?

 

[EmergencyFan97]

They don't everywhere.

[Ace]

Okay so today I heard something crazy. That highway patrols carry 2 gallons of coke to wash off blood from accidents. Is this true? Is it even the cops job to clean up that mess?

[999madtom]

I don't know about coke in Canada. But sometimes it is the cops job to clean the mess in order to get the traffic flowing.

[Handsup!]

Well coke is pretty good for things like that, it's actually pretty nasty stuff

[MCERT1]

Okay so today I heard something crazy. That highway patrols carry 2 gallons of coke to wash off blood from accidents. Is this true? Is it even the cops job to clean up that mess?

 

It's a big myth that comes from a lot of health brochures about soda. Carbonic and phosphoric acid are used in solvents for "washdowns". Those chemicals are in soda, but people aren't using coke for cleaning blood. As for carrying a solvent like that, no agency I've ever been around has carried any, they just call the fire department to hose off the scene.

[Ace]

Do ambulances really put public safety second when responding to an infant in need? I know infants have a short time to live after an accident happens but putting the the public at risk...what if the ambulance runs through a red light so fast that it causes an MVA killing other people?

[njboy13]

Where did you hear that? Safety of yourself is number 1, safety of your partner is number 2. Meaning you drive to any scene, regardless of age or nature, safely. Urgently, but safely. And you always stop, or at least slow down before going through red lights. I'd drive to an unconscious infant the same way I would for a middle aged person with trouble breathing, or a teenager with a broken leg.

 

You can't help anyone if you get hurt on the way. 

[Ace]

My CPR instructor

-------------------------

This happened a few minuites away from where I live! The title of the video says police brutality but I don't think so. The officers clearly told the man to drop the knife. Then tazed him because he didn't. The first shot was ineffective so a second shot was deployed. I don't see anything wrong with that because he was walking towards a crowded intersection. The police were just doing their job. What do you think?

[Fred03]

Where did you hear that? Safety of yourself is number 1, safety of your partner is number 2. Meaning you drive to any scene, regardless of age or nature, safely. Urgently, but safely. And you always stop, or at least slow down before going through red lights. I'd drive to an unconscious infant the same way I would for a middle aged person with trouble breathing, or a teenager with a broken leg.

 

You can't help anyone if you get hurt on the way. 

Wouldn't even put on the lights for a broken leg.

[njboy13]

Wouldn't even put on the lights for a broken leg.

My mentality for that, coming from a more urban/city style department is if they're calling 911, it's an emergency. Could be dispatched as a broken leg, but you truly do not know what it is until you get there. If it is indeed just a normal, everyday, non severe broken leg, well then you just made the turn around time quicker and made the ambulance available for true emergencies faster than if lights and sirens were not used. If the bone's sticking out and he's losing blood fast, good thing you used lights and sirens. 

 

Everybody disagrees with me on that, but that's how I operate. In my almost 10 years of being an EMT and driving ambulances, I've never once been in an accident while responding or transporting with lights and sirens. Just have to be smart with using them, know what you're doing, and drive under the mentality that everybody else on the road has no idea how to drive, (Most people do drive about 10x worse when there's lights and sirens nearby anyway).

[Fred03]

I see your point especially if their is no other information. In my area we generally have people on scene before the ambulance and they can update the responding ambulance on the condition of the patient so the ambulance crew can decide the appropriate level of response, good system in my opinion. In MY experience when people encounter a emergency vehicle they lose their minds, stop in the middle of the road and do all kinds of crazy stuff. And the point about getting the ambulance back to base makes a lot of sense.