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I'm actually somewhat upset about this in my city. The fire department is driving these gigantic fire engines with ladders and everything to every medical emerg

• sokoloff 6y ago
  Chesterton’s Fence: I grew up close to the Chief of our town’s Fire Dept. He explained that they sent the second piece of large equipment primarily because of the re-dispatch problem. If they get a second call which would require the engine, they didn’t want to risk having the fire personnel on scene in the little rescue truck and away from the engine, delaying response to the fire. (For the same reason, they wore the full turnout gear to support medical calls.)
  • nn3 6y ago
    They could leave one guy in the station to drive the engine to the fire and drive the rest of the crew in the small van to the fire, where they then man the engine. There is probably more to it, but at least the way you describe it doesn't sound convincing. Also I should add the in the previous cities I lived in they of course didn't do that. They just used small vans for medical emergencies. Originally when I moved here i thought it was burning a lot more when I saw all those engines on the street all the time, but it wasn't that. My suspicion is that it's related to justifying having so much of the big equipment. But if the big engines are overused too much they likely break down much faster too, driving a vicious circle of needing more and more of them, creating bigger budgets, more power for the fire chief etc.etc.
    • at_a_remove 6y ago
      Hi! I work in this industry. What equipment with what personnel is dispatched is incredibly complicated. You would be shocked. And most fire districts/departments regularly tweak their "response plans."