i'm writing a tersely worded e-mail to the local fire station re: their flagrant misuse of sirens.
 

it's out of control in dtla, there's even one fire truck driver that does the bump-bumpa-bump- bump......bump bump with that crazy BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA horn.

i'm going to suggest a system that the drivers have to use. 1 beep 2 beeps. done.


and there's no need for every emergency vehicle in the convoy to be going off with the sirens & horns either. chillax! where's the fire? oh there ain't one, it's just a minor call.

i am cc'ing you as well.

If you have a neighbor that you hate. put his address on that. Otherwise it could cost you some day.

^ good advice.

As a former Firefighter / Engineer, that has to be one of the most ignorant statements I have ever read.

figures. i'd wager i could run a local political campaign with a 1 item agenda- sort this 3 am bullshit fire truck siren/horn bullshit out and i would win by a landslide.

seriously, as a former fire fighter? lolz.

We live right by where firetrucks turn when they leave the station. Assholes lay on the siren and air horn late at night or early morning when there isn't a fucking car in sight. I just watched a single firetruck leave the other night just after 11pm. There were no cars in sight and they still made a spectacle out of making a left turn.

Fortunately our 18 month old has learned to sleep through it. It wakes me up though.

as someone who has multiple patents pending on different types of fire sirens i too find this thread insulting. :2 cents:

fact: full blown sirens and horns on multiple vehicles responding to a drunk homeless guy pulling shit on the street in the middle of the night is completely unnecessary.

My brother is a retired firefighter. In the years of experiences he's shared I can tell you with a high degree of certainty that everything those guys do, right down to siren use, is done with safety in mind as their #1 consideration. It might seem like it's done just for show or to piss people off, but I would be greatly surprised if that was the case.

Not just regular surprised, but GREATLY surprised.

I have no problen with the sirens. fact is your gonna here it before you see it, which gives you plenty of time to look for them, react and pull over. which is good seeing how alot of people aren't really paying attention to the road and doing other things while driving

it's too random, subjective and left up to the guy with his finger on the horn. systems work. one is needed here. guidelines people.

Moaning about the fucking water fairies guarantees your house mysteriously burns down one night when they are too busy to come and put it out.

exfuckingactly.

i've been spending a ton of time in downtown los angeles, the trucks here get called out.........~7x every 24 hours. maybe more. i can tell whose on shift by the style of horn honking. this area is filled with live/work spaces and high rise lofts......it's really not needed to wake up 1000s of people to respond to some drunk dude passed out on the street.

I agree. People are idiots.

The reason why they use the siren the way they do is because people are in fact idiots. About a year ago I pulled over for a firetruck with it's lights flashing. Much to my surprise, the car behind me was fucking clueless, didn't see a big ass fucking red fire truck with it's lights on and siren blaring, and decided she decided I was an idiot and that she was going to go around me. She went around me all right - and the fire truck hit her bumper and sent her flying into the ditch.

If you aren't paying attention enough so that you can't see a fucking big ass red fire truck with it's lights on coming behind you... You shouldn't be driving.

I bet you she sued the city too.

And that's why they have sirens.

39 people were killed by a tersely worded email last year in Lincoln Nebraska another 13 in Wichita Kansas just after that. Please be careful how you wield such menacing and terrible power.

So by your logic, sirens aren't even needed.

I just wish they'd use some discretion. If they're going to a house fire at rush hour then sirens and air horns are in order. For an "electrical smell" at 11:20 PM on a weeknight when there are very few cars on the road here they can probably go to the call with just their lights on rather than blasting through a residential area with their siren blaring.

Yes, they were really going to a call for an "electrical smell" at 11:20 PM. I checked the local paper.

Why is it that you hear that so many people arrested for arson are firefighters?

Is it job protection?

so all the people driving are idiots except you and firefighters, got it.

the odd thing about your post is that this thread was never about *why they have sirens* this is about adopting a siren/horn system. seems weird that one of the few non-idiots would miss that key component of this thread.

nevertheless, people (non-fighters by your definition) are smart enough to understand traffic lights, certainly they could understand a similar simple system for sirens and horns.

i'm all ears if anyone has any reasons for why such a system could not work..

If she was in Cali, and could prove that ONLY the emergency lights were activated, and NO SIREN sounding, she quite possibly would have won her case if she had sued.

If I approached a red light while responding code 3, proceeded through the red light and hit a car, I would have been responsible. Not the car that failed to yield the right of way. Cali is a pretty shitty place to deal with when it comes to first responders.

The bottom line is, all that noise is made for a reason. To attract the attention of EVERYONE.

Depending on your local statutes, and department policies, responding with "just lights" is most likely illegal or against policy. It's generally all or nothing. Some discretion is allowed in residential areas, and time of day. But come to an intersection with even 1 vehicle, and some type of noise should be made.

perhaps the firefighters in this area have not yet determined this is now primarily a residential district of downtown, i will make sure and bring them up to speed on that in my email. maybe they can use *discretion* then.

yes. emergencies workers playing with their horns should be tossed in jail.

I live across the street from a hospital. The exit where the ambulances pull out is about 50 feet away from my window. Every time they come out, be it 5AM, nobody anywhere near the exit, no matter...they hit their horns loud & proud. Its like they experiment with which noise makes the most annoying sound before taking off.

& its not like horns are coming down the street, & their volume gradually increases. Instead, its full blast right out the gate. Like a slap in the face.

:disgust

OP would be the first one ranting and suing if he hit a firetruck going through a red light because he wasnt paying attention and they weren't using their sirens.

again, someone that failed to comprehend the op's topic, then goes on to make bizarre personality characterizations of some gfy poster named dyna mo based on absolutely nothing. i see.

In the US, its a little different. Everything any large organization does that's lawsuit prone, especially city/state/county organizations, does so usually as a matter of policy dictated by insurers and/or attorneys as a defensive measure.

:2 cents:

isn't there better ways to meet firefighters?

How does the driver know that there is nobody in the area?

there's a lot of truth in this comment, it has crossed my mind as well that certainly they know they are going overboard.

i'll ask again, if anyone can tell me why a system can't be set up dictating guidelines on this, i am all ears.

what I take issue with are the assholes that after hearing the siren, don't pull over and bring their vehicle to a halt. When emergency vehicles blow their sirens and no one is around.. you can hear it half way across town, so that you know that there is an emergency vehicle in the area, and you can expect to pull over.

Although some days it does seem like the emergency is that the station is out of coffee and donuts.:winkwink:

I like the way my dogs try to outdo the sirens, hell sometimes I jump out in the yard and join them! Embrace the chaos.....

You live in DTLA and you're complaining about noize?

That's funny shit right there!

:1orglaugh

Guy is a fucking moron.

haven't quite made the jump to *live in dtla*, but yes, that is how out of control the situation is! it is already loud as fuck, don't even get me going on the clean air buses, people hold their ears down here when those go by, jet engines on wheels.

i've acclimated to all of it but i think the emergency vehicles can use some guidelines. especially in the historic core area, where most the live/work lofts are located.

settle down. spend a week in dtla and then go fuck yourself.

Im in the south bay (LA suburb) and I can tell you they are doing the exact same thing to me here. 3am ...not a car in sight and the sirens are blaring. Especially the New kind BRAAP BRAAP!

Drives me fucking nuts too. Can you send me that letter ..i'd like to send it to my city officials as well.

I'm totally serious.

i hear ya.

the tersely worded email thing was actually my just being sarcastic, just stirring in up around here a bit, but after starting the thread, i thought why not have some guidelines. doesn't mean i don't appreciate emergency services. and i'm sure it is the same for you. :)

and i've noticed the police have guidelines on their noise makers down here. when they are escorting dignitaries or film shoots, etc, they chirp their sirens in certain ways.....and that is while blazing through the very same intersections the fire trucks do.

"Tersely worded'.

Youa re kidding, right?

yes......

i used to live like 75 meter from a crossing, 1st floor and my bedroom window was right at the same height as the sirens of the fire trucks. not only once i was standing upright in my bed cause i thought they went off right in my room...

then there was some evil smell from a nearby factory and my car got broken into like 5 times in 2 years.

then i moved.

Like getting distracted from getting road head?

With a woman sucking and slurping me half to death I can still drive better than anyone else in the state I live in.