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In all my time living in Louisiana, the only time I saw a fire truck near a home was when the house was actually on fire or under threat of fire. In Texas? EV

In all my time living in Louisiana, the only time I saw a fire truck near a home was when the house was actually on fire or under threat of fire. In Texas? EVERY SINGLE TIME I see an ambulance, I see a fire truck. It makes ZERO sense most of the time. Texas municipalities are using medical emergencies to fund their fire departments (and jack up insurance rates in the process) by sending fire trucks to people even when they're suffering from chronic conditions.

windthrown 5y ago
What you saw in Texas is actually quite common. In most other states I have lived, there are typically many more fire trucks than ambulances available. Because if that, Fire response times are much shorter and as they are are trained parametics, they are used as first-responders when not fighting fires. The situation you described was likely the handoff between fire and ambulance.
rsj_hn 5y ago
If you have a full time fire department, it makes sense to have them working with EMS rather than just waiting for a fire. If you have a volunteer fire department or part-time fire department, you will call them out only for fires. I would expect in smaller towns that fire departments would not be regularly doing EMS legwork but would focus on fires. But I have no idea if this hypothesis is relevant to your situation. It could also be that the same station has a fire truck and ambulance, and the fireman jump into the ambulance for an EMS call and only use the firetruck for fires.
wikibob 5y ago
There is a reason for this. In most municipalities, there aren’t nearly enough fires to keep a fire department busy. So fire departments also are often first responders for medical incidents.
- bserge 5y ago
  Jesus, can't they just... be on standby? On that note, it would be hilarious if that applied to IT.
exabrial 5y ago
This is a great observation and there's an obvious answer you may have not made the connection on: it's cheaper, more efficient, and saves lives. Many midwestern states, because of their large land area, face a bit different problem than compact cities: you can only get some place so fast by highway. Furthermore, because of the large distances, it could be too late when certain first responders are dispatched and the information that was given over the phone was incorrect. (Think of software engineering, how many times have you been given the correct and complete requirements the first time?) Instead, most fire departments not only have the training to hand the exact same emergencies as the EMS, but they also carry the same equipment onboard the fire trucks. Another scenario, lets say fire was dispatched to car accident because smoke was reported 20m from the city, and when they got there, someone was bleeding severely. If it were me, the answer I wouldn't want to hear is "oh sorry, can't bandage that, we'll call for EMS". Worse, imagine the fire department was on a call like that and a high rise caught fire, 5m down the road. If they didn't take the fire truck, they'd have to drive all the way back to the city, grab the truck, then drive all the way back. That's why you see that all the time, it's the safest thing to do. And fire departments go way beyond putting out fires. There are departments in cities that are trained in swift water rescue, electrical hazards, gas/chemical leaks, and many more. Think of fire as general rescue workers, rather than putting out flames. Source: Firsthand volunteer firefighter work
- MisterBastahrd 5y ago
  Except it isn't obvious, because it isn't true. When I was living in an apartment complex, I had a neighbor with a magnesium imbalance, and she had an "emergency" about once every 10 days. Her elderly husband was unable to move her to get her the infusions she needed, so he would call the paramedics, who promptly got her out of the apartment every time. The fire department also brought a truck every time, which blocked the main lane in the apartment complex and kept people from being able to get out of their parking spots... while the ambulance blocked the lane closest to the apartments. The result was that about 40% of the complex couldn't leave as long as the paramedics were there. At no point did the people from the fire department ever lift a finger to actually do anything to help the paramedics, because the paramedics never needed help.
etaioinshrdlu 5y ago
I saw a fire truck (and ambulance) get called in Santa Cruz, CA, because an elderly person fell inside their house and couldn't get up.
- kube-system 5y ago
  If the elderly person has locked the door, the firefighters will have entry equipment to help the ambulance workers get inside the house.
kcplate 5y ago
No that is not why. Some municipalities require Fire departments to staff paramedics on their trucks and private ambulance companies tend to use EMTs.
jes 5y ago
I was a firefighter and EMT in Washington State about twenty years ago. On certain EMS calls we routinely dispatched an aid car (ambulance) and an engine to ensure enough crew (two from aid car, usually three on the engine) on scene to handle what might arise, such as the need for CPR, or getting a corpulent patient down a flight of stairs on a stair-chair.

windthrown 5y ago

What you saw in Texas is actually quite common. In most other states I have lived, there are typically many more fire trucks than ambulances available. Because if that, Fire response times are much shorter and as they are are trained parametics, they are used as first-responders when not fighting fires. The situation you described was likely the handoff between fire and ambulance.

rsj_hn 5y ago

If you have a full time fire department, it makes sense to have them working with EMS rather than just waiting for a fire. If you have a volunteer fire department or part-time fire department, you will call them out only for fires. I would expect in smaller towns that fire departments would not be regularly doing EMS legwork but would focus on fires. But I have no idea if this hypothesis is relevant to your situation. It could also be that the same station has a fire truck and ambulance, and the fireman jump into the ambulance for an EMS call and only use the firetruck for fires.

wikibob 5y ago

There is a reason for this. In most municipalities, there aren’t nearly enough fires to keep a fire department busy. So fire departments also are often first responders for medical incidents.

bserge 5y ago
Jesus, can't they just... be on standby? On that note, it would be hilarious if that applied to IT.

exabrial 5y ago

This is a great observation and there's an obvious answer you may have not made the connection on: it's cheaper, more efficient, and saves lives. Many midwestern states, because of their large land area, face a bit different problem than compact cities: you can only get some place so fast by highway. Furthermore, because of the large distances, it could be too late when certain first responders are dispatched and the information that was given over the phone was incorrect. (Think of software engineering, how many times have you been given the correct and complete requirements the first time?) Instead, most fire departments not only have the training to hand the exact same emergencies as the EMS, but they also carry the same equipment onboard the fire trucks. Another scenario, lets say fire was dispatched to car accident because smoke was reported 20m from the city, and when they got there, someone was bleeding severely. If it were me, the answer I wouldn't want to hear is "oh sorry, can't bandage that, we'll call for EMS". Worse, imagine the fire department was on a call like that and a high rise caught fire, 5m down the road. If they didn't take the fire truck, they'd have to drive all the way back to the city, grab the truck, then drive all the way back. That's why you see that all the time, it's the safest thing to do. And fire departments go way beyond putting out fires. There are departments in cities that are trained in swift water rescue, electrical hazards, gas/chemical leaks, and many more. Think of fire as general rescue workers, rather than putting out flames. Source: Firsthand volunteer firefighter work

MisterBastahrd 5y ago
Except it isn't obvious, because it isn't true. When I was living in an apartment complex, I had a neighbor with a magnesium imbalance, and she had an "emergency" about once every 10 days. Her elderly husband was unable to move her to get her the infusions she needed, so he would call the paramedics, who promptly got her out of the apartment every time. The fire department also brought a truck every time, which blocked the main lane in the apartment complex and kept people from being able to get out of their parking spots... while the ambulance blocked the lane closest to the apartments. The result was that about 40% of the complex couldn't leave as long as the paramedics were there. At no point did the people from the fire department ever lift a finger to actually do anything to help the paramedics, because the paramedics never needed help.

etaioinshrdlu 5y ago

I saw a fire truck (and ambulance) get called in Santa Cruz, CA, because an elderly person fell inside their house and couldn't get up.

kube-system 5y ago
If the elderly person has locked the door, the firefighters will have entry equipment to help the ambulance workers get inside the house.

kcplate 5y ago

No that is not why. Some municipalities require Fire departments to staff paramedics on their trucks and private ambulance companies tend to use EMTs.

jes 5y ago

I was a firefighter and EMT in Washington State about twenty years ago. On certain EMS calls we routinely dispatched an aid car (ambulance) and an engine to ensure enough crew (two from aid car, usually three on the engine) on scene to handle what might arise, such as the need for CPR, or getting a corpulent patient down a flight of stairs on a stair-chair.