It`s No Longer Always Lights and Sirens

In St. Louis, Salt Lake City and Anne Arundel County, Maryland, those fire trucks and ambulances blending in with normal traffic just may be headed to an incident.

While flashing lights and screaming sirens are the norm in most jurisdictions, some officials are taking a long, hard look at response methods, as the number of crashes involving emergency vehicles continues to rise.

In 2004, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation listed emergency responses as one of the 16 Life Safety Initiatives that need to be addressed to reduce the number of fire and rescue personnel killed.

But, some areas such as St. Louis and Salt Lake City are ahead of the game. Both have had "reduced response" policies in place for many years. And, Anne Arundel county adopted the procedure a few months ago.

"Every call to 9-1-1 doesn't generate an emergency response," said Capt. Steve Simpson, CHIEF medical officer for the St. Louis Fire Department.

People in the emergency communications center carefully screen the calls, and determine whether the responding unit will run quiet or use lights and siren. "It's been going well. We had to do something when we saw the number of wrecks or near misses we were having..."

Simpson said the public is OK with the silent run policy, now in its 10th year. "It was against tradition, and I know people were skeptical at first. But, now they're used to it."

Before Anne Arundel County Fire implemented its three-tiered policy a few months ago, officials surveyed citizens to get their feelings. More than 96 percent were OK with a reduced response to fire calls, and 85 percent supported the idea for units handling EMS incidents, said Allen Williams, division chief of health and safety.

Units are instructed to respond one of three ways, hot, warm or cold. And, dispatchers have a pre-determined list of response criteria. Williams said on a warm response, only the first due piece runs with lights and siren. The others come in cold.

Calls that still generate a hot response include working fires, patients with respiratory or cardiac problems and serious trauma. "Everything can be upgraded to an urgent call once an officer arrives or additional information is obtained. We're not putting lives in jeopardy," Simpson said.

Quiet calls include runs for wires down, pull stations activated, smoke detectors sounding, lock outs, some gas leaks and manpower assists.

In Maryland, early statistics show there's not a lot of difference in the arrival time of units responding hot as opposed to cold, Williams said.

Before establishing the response policy, officers took a long, hard look at data, noting such things has how many times units found nothing after they were called for alarm bells or were cancelled en route or shortly after arriving at the scene.

"We were seeing a number of crashes, and our chief wanted to take a pro-active approach," Williams said, adding that he believes the directive will make a difference.

Simpson said statistics show that the number and severity of crashes involving emergency vehicles has declined in the past few years. "We've been very fortunate not to have had a civilian or firefighter killed."

Salt Lake City fire officials said they've received many positive comments from the public since its reduced response policy went into effect six years ago. "People say they're glad we pull up their houses quietly. They also compliment us for not blasting past them," said Capt. Dan Walker, EMS director.

"We're not putting our citizens or our firefighters at risk if we don't have to," Walker said. "That's why we came up with a level of response. Studies have shown that many people are hurt responding to calls..."

And, Walker said there's another advantage to slowing down. "Hot responses require more fuel and pollute the air, while a reduction also cuts down on the noise. We think we're taking care of our citizens properly and safely."

As in the other jurisdictions, Salt Lake personnel can upgrade or scale back response as needed. Walker also said turning off the lights and siren didn't result in extended arrivals either. "There was a difference of 51 seconds to two minutes in most cases..."

Maryland officials said they also are keeping an eye on the arrival times, and so far haven't seen that much difference.

Although these jurisdictions have gone against the grain to make the streets and highways safer for their citizens and firefighters, it's not going to be an easy sell throughout the nation, said J. Gordon Routley, project director with the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

"Excuses for not doing it are feeble," he said. "But the figures speak for themselves. We have to do something to cut down the number of accidents..."

Routley, who was involved in the development of the life safety initiatives, said the reduced response proposal is something else that won't happen until there are cultural changes within the fire service. "We're our own worst enemy at times."