I was thinking the same thing. I’ve come up with a few really good ones to explain tardiness.
Cartooniverse, all very good points…
I don’t know if the event happened on a crowded city street or crowded expressway way or if the guys knew the danger and did it only on an empty street and in a not sudden manner as like with a short toot of the horn or growl of the siren. Or if they were being total asshats.
Yes, it is illegal. So is speeding with ANY vehicle and using ANY vehicle in an improper manner.
I just think the desire to punish and the degree of punishment is way over the top considering how much info we don’t have.
As to what happened top me and mine, one example…
Car - motorcycle wreck. ( motorcycle = me )
Totally destroyed shoulder and a cut on my face from my goggles that was running a river down the street, I am talking ‘flow’ here.
Lot of other stuff going on ( see the “Teeming” online zine that Eutey had a while back, I wrote up a more humorous account of that night there. ) but the part that applies to the EMT crew is this.
Refused to listen to me explain where I hurt…
Draped the neck brace across me without attaching it…
Kicked, yes kicked the back board under me from the injured shoulder side…
No attempt to lift or roll me nor any warning, just stood there kicking it…
Did not strap me to the gurney…
Did not immobilize my arm-shoulder…
They did nothing for my heavy bleeding face, ( yeah head wounds bleed a lot but we are talking a flowing river here. )
Slammed the gurney into the back of the ambulance 3 ( three ) times trying to get it to fold so they could shove it in…
Had the choice of two routes to the hospital that were the same distance. One was new asphalt pavement and one was on older street that is very rough…
They went down the rough street and when I called them on it, they asked how I knew where I was and I told them that I had lived there all my life and I also rode a hard tail bike and recognized the bumps. I was nice and asking out of real curiosity…
They did not reply, the driver just moved to the right lane that had many drop inlets for the storm sewer and let the already rough riding ambulance slam through the rest of them all the way to the hospital…( it was not a happy fun ride )
The guy in back started to cut my boots and I asked him why and he said to get them off. I just kicked them off myself… That seemed to piss him off. I had not let him cut up my good leather coat either… I just slipped it off…
They bumped into the side or the double wide automatic opening doors to the emergency room twice before getting the gurney into the building…
Was all this because I was a biker?
Because they thought the wreck was my fault? ( It was not, it was 100% the young girls fault and it was so noted by the investigating officer ) They had no way of knowing.
They liked the pretty girl from the car involved?
They thought I would stiff them for the cost because I had no insurance like all bikers. ( had insurance )
I had no way to do anything as there was no witnesses that noticed what went on at the scene and of course none in the ambulance. I was in a lot of pain anyway.
I did get a nasty note on my 9th day in the hospital from the EMT service saying that my bill was due in full. That they did not wait on insurance and it was my responsibility to pay on demand and if it was not paid in 30 days that I would be taken to court. ( that was the first thing I heard about any of the paper work associated with the wreck and from anyone about who was going to pay different stuff.)
I can tell you about the things that happened when one of my sisters was raped, my Dad was dying, another sister having a broken arm, etc…
Our family has just been unlucky I know, as all EMTs are not like this. But, no way is the industry any better than, more professorial than or saintly than any other.
I have two sisters that are RN’s, one that is an ex – X-ray tech. Two cousins that are doctors and lots of family stories of what goes on…
I got lucky in that the emergency doctors took one look at the x-rays and said only one guy in town was to work on that shoulder. I got the best in the country IMO. I still have an arm. Lots of stories about all that too.
Just feel that without proof that the guys in the OP were acting in a real bad way in a real bad place at a real bad time, that maybe they did not need to lose their jobs, go to jail or have to move their families to BFE and hang their heads in shame for the rest of their lives.
YMMV
I just can’t stop laughing an how unintentionally cruel this line was:
Ow ow ow ow ow.
The fireman/men took advantage of the girl’s good faith in the fire department. That’s a ridiculous abuse of power and I think he/they should be severely reprimanded, if not fired, if the incident is discovered or reported. I don’t care if it was half a mile from the nearest car and there was no chance of causing an accident, there’s simply no way to defend this idiot’s actions.
GusNSpot–
It’s okay to debate the degree of punishment that the offending firefighter(s) deserve for their transgression (should they be fired? should they be fined $1? something in between?). But there is no way in hell that they should not be cited and punished for their alleged crime (and what was alleged IS a crime).
As has been pointed out, running lights/sirens can be very dangerous. But even if no other vehicles/pedestrians were anywhere close the firefighters seriously abused their power, and it seems at least one of them harrassed a young woman. THIS CAN NOT GO UNPUNISHED.
Note: of course, if the story was made up then no punishment is warrented. Her story needs to be investigated though.
Better yet, there are one or two firemen in the town where my parents live that tear through the town at an incredible rate (faster than the police in patrol cars) on their way to the fire station in their own cars. They have some device fitted that lets them have both hands on the wheel but makes the headlights flash and the horn blast on and off.
When they drive down streets that can be busy or used heavily for parking there isn’t much time to think before having to pull over when one appears in your mirror. I didn’t even realise they were firemen till my Mum told me and I saw the car parked outside the firestation later.
A friend of mine from work had her parents’ back garden torched by someone who left the cooker for their dogs’ food (he’s a greyhound racer) turned on and had to wait 20mins for the firebrigade, but even so, I’d prefer them not to race through the town at such a rate of knots.
GusNSpot, I feel that the firefighter involved is a threat to the community. As part of the Emergency Services community, we cannot function without having the trust of the public. The fire crew involved abused the public trust, overstepped their authority, and acted dangerously. Operating any emergency vehicle lights and sirens is extremely dangerous, both to the crews involved and the general public. At the service I work for, several steps are taken to minimize emergent driving. For starters, all calls go throught EMD (Emergency Medical Dispatch). The calls are then assigned a priority, omega, alpha, bravo, charlie, delta, or echo. Omega and alpha responses are dispatched as non-emergent responses. A portion of these calls are then audited against our reports to determine that we arent’ running hot unnecessarily, and vice versa. In addition, all emergent returns to the hospital result in the trip sheet being audited by Quality Assurance.
As far as your experience goes, you’re right. That was a bad crew, and I apologize that you had to go through that. As far as your reasoning goes, I think it’s because they’re a couple of jerks. (As an aside, I doubt insurance had anything to do with it. The only way I find out about insurance before care has been transferred to the hospital is if the patient tells me. I never ask). Did you consider filing a complaint with the ambulance service?
Lastly, there is a problem with underqualified EMTs/Paramedics. I know I’ve worked with some. There is something of a shortage, especially of paramedics, and some employers would rather get a warm body with a cert card then make sure they have quality people on the streets.
St. Urho
What St.Urho said. As is clear by now, I feel very strongly about this topic. But I’ll share a side of my EMT experience that I’ve not posted before. My card ( NYS grants certification 3 years at a pop) expired August 1, 2004. I was told around January 2002 to stop riding as an EMT. Broke my back in 2000, lifting huge weights was rather unsafe for me. I was deeply upset at the idea of giving it up. However, I did stop riding. I kept my jump bag with current glucose, charcoal and whatnot in the car along with an O2 tank, set of adult and peds cervical collars and flight jumpsuit. Used that stuff a few times for minor injuries and a few times for major car accidents, including two I witnessed.
I had enough awareness to balance my deep love of EMS with a harsh truth. Use it or lose it. The skills I’d been honing since getting my EMT card had gone rusty and would continue to do so. I could have attended enough Continuing Medical Education classes to roll my card over and still be an EMT but I felt inside that the card was meaningless. It is the skill set that you use day in and day out and the constant updates and refreshers you get as a working EMT ( and of cours Paramedic 
) that make you valuable, and professional…and safe. I chose to let the card expire. Gave my O2 tank back to my local volunteer corps the very next day. O2 is a regulated drug and it’s illegal to carry or dispense it without certification. Kept the jump bag, minus the important stuff. ( It’s basically a very well stocked first aid kit now ). If I wanted to regard myself as a professional and comport myself as such, then knowing when to let it go was a part of that. I miss it terribly, but know that stopping was the safest thing to do.
GusNSpot, it sounds as though your crew was A) UNProfessional, B) Lazy, and C) Somewhat negligent in your care. You describe details such as the lack of appropriate cervical immobilization that could well have led to paralysis, if you had a cervical fracture. I’m sorry you have had to deal with such treatment in the field. It is true, there are lackeys in every profession but in ours it is pretty much intolerable for anyone to ever do the things that crew did to you. I am glad you recovered from the accident.