Being a stay at home mom affords one to observe lots of interesting things that happen on weekdays… for example. Every morning between nine and ten a.m. a bunch of firefighters show up at the grocery store in their fire engine and buy groceries.
My first thought was that it was a lot of fun to see the engine drive up and see the firefighters squeezing peaches inside the store.
My second thought was, why are they taking the fire engine on grocery runs?
My first answer was, so it gets driven about regularly and they know it’s in good repair.
My second answer was that so they’ll be ready if they get a fire call in the middle of peach-squeezing. They probably aren’t off firefighting duty just because they’re fetching groceries.
I think both your thoughts are correct: they ride it, as well as clean it which you didn’t mention, to keep it functioning AND it’s ready for an emergency. And while the engine is out and about, they can sweep out the garage and maybe walk the dalmatian too.
In Seattle, there is a legal minimum response for certain emergency calls, which includes how many vehicles of what types and how many personnel must be with each one. If some of the firefighters go to the store and don’t bring the engine or truck, the whole station might find itself below those standards, and won’t be dispatched for certain calls.
So they keep the whole complement with each vehicle during the entire shift to avoid having to sit idle when something happens in their area, while a crew from further away has to come in. Then that other area is underprotected as well.
Firemen will go on minor errands as a unit and can respond as a unit at any time. After training, cleaning, paperwork and other duties, a firefighter’s life can be a tad dull.
As long as they stay within their ‘first response area’, the zone they are expected to cover, fire trucks can often be seen doing a number of duties, including shopping for the firehouse (and / or grabbing a bite), community checks (do you have a working smoke alarm, maam?), hydrant checks (5th & Main looks rough, we’d better check it out), etc.
Also there are a number of times a unit may leave it’s area to get fuel, service, supplies or an administrative issue.
For those with a smart phone or computer there are a number of free and low cost scanner apps (or websites) that will allow you to listen in to your local fire department.
I live next to a fire station, so seeing them shopping at the grocery store is pretty common. Sure enough, one day at the store, I heard tones, followed by someone yelling ‘We got a call’" and they were off and running.
Like you said, they have to drive the damn thing just to keep it in working order.
I can imagine them saying
Bill: Hey fred, we gotta fire up number seven and drive it a minimum if 5 miles according to the maintenance chart.
Fred: Good, we’re out of cocopuffs anyway, and get whole milk this time - I hate that 2% shit
Bill: It’s better for you
Fred: Fuck that, we’re all gonna die anyway
Bill: As long as we’re on the subject you should really quit smoking
Fred: Jeasus! I already have a mother, and I don’t really like her that much
Bill: Well maybe if you called her on any other day than her birthday you might just have a better relationship
Fred: Fuck this I’m going to the bar
Bill: Don’t you set one foot outside this firehouse!
Fred: Fuck you!
Bill: Fred! Fred?! I’m warning you…
Door: SLAM!
#2 is definitely correct. I’m not sure about #1, they don’t have to go to the store, it’s possible for them to pack their own bag-meals. Plus, they do a daily truck check (I pass one station every morning at truck check time). Source of info: my dad’s a firefighter. They’ve had to leave carts before, but the store put their cart in the cooler for them at least one time.
I grew up across the street from a volunteer fire department and my dad tried it for a while before leaving in disgust. I’m talking the 1960s. The volunteers spent the days washing their cars with the various equipment and making emergency runs to the store for … I don’t know but there is good evidence that alcohol was involved. They did some partying over there. But again, this was a volunteer department, a long time ago in a fairly rural area.
When I see the firefighters in the supermarket, they’ve parked way in the back of the parking lot. I think the only time I’ve seen them parked on the red curb is when there was a genuine medical emergency in the store.
I am to understand that fire trucks are so heavy that the wheels will deform if you leave them in one orientation all the time. If the firefighters didn’t take them out, they’d have to move them around a little just to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Reminds me of an incident in the '80’s when a couple of US army helicopter pilots in Europe (Germany, I think) landed in a field next to a McDonald’s and walked over to eat lunch there.
I did EMS for a number of years & I can tell you we didn’t split up our crew so that we could respond to calls quicker. I lived 1 mile from the station, but if I forgot something & wanted to go home to get it, I needed to take my partner in the ambulance to go get it.
As for parking out front, there are two reasons:
if it’s your house on fire or grandparent having a heart attack, do you want us to get there as quickly as possible, or take an extra 30 seconds getting thru the parking lot? Remeber, the clock starts ticking even before you call 911 & continues ticking…while you are talking to the call taker; while they dispatch us; while we figure out where we’re going; while we get there; while we get our equipment out & get into your house. Those extra 30 seconds can be significant in either knocking down a fire/containing it to one room or having a chance at full recovery in that 4-6 minute window when the heart stops.
The cops aren’t going to ticket us in a marked emergency vehicle.
Even in slow areas, between real runs & training, the vehicles would probably get used enough that they wouldn’t need to be driven to the grocery store just to run the engine. We didn’t necessarily put it in gear, but we made sure it started as part of our beginning of shift check.
That is called ‘mobile service’ and the fire dept will usually call it out on the radio so emergency dispatch knows the engine is not at the firehouse.
Didn’t you read the responses from people explaining why they do it? They are a team assigned to this particular truck and as they are on duty they have to go wherever they are going together with their engine in case they have a call. I remember an old thread on the same subject where the OP complained about it was being parked in the fire lane. :smack:
If they get a call, they roll.