• Diva (she/her)@lemmy.ml
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    14 days ago

    Like I know firefighter put out fires, but in the US at least departments are often instrumental in making sure city streets are as unsafe as possible so they can drive their enormous trucks down them.

    They will even do shit like narc out renters who have too many roommates in single family neighborhoods to city authorities, like they’re not cops but some of them try really hard.

    Like an order of magnitude more people die in car crashes than house fires, and more often than not fire departments are just responding to some dumbass crashing their car.

    • Dr. Bob@lemmy.ca
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      14 days ago

      That’s the Fire Marshall. They are the enforcement arm of fire services. Do you think there is a reason so few people die in fires and maybe its tied to a strong regulatory regime? Like make sure occupancy limits are respected and fire exits aren’t blocked?

      • desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        14 days ago

        Do you think there is a reason so few people die in fires and maybe its tied to a strong regulatory regime?

        we should make houses safer, AND prevent firefighters from interfering in housefires.

        • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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          13 days ago

          You know how we make houses safer from fire? Fire Code and the IBC. Know how who enforces Fire Code? Fire Marshall.

          And it’s not only fires that require emergency vehicle access. If an ambulance is called to your house, the FD needs to know they can actually get it there.

          And what if there’s a utility outage and an excavator and crane are necessary? What if the street needs repair and a concrete truck has to get access? There’s all kinds of reasons large vehicles need to access homes.

          And none of that makes the streets less-safe. It increases visibility and gives more maneuvering room in an emergency.

          • pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online
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            13 days ago

            I don’t think the FD is responsible for the ambulance getting there. They are often the first responders because the locations are more distributed than ambulance dispatch.

            • resonate6279@lemmy.world
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              12 days ago

              It depends.

              A lot of FDs run the ambulance, a lot don’t.

              In my area ambulance is seperate from fire, but fire crew responds to lift assists and certain other calls where we may need a driver or another set of hands for CPR. Some departments respond with a pickup/brush rig, and other respond with the full engine, just depends on manning.

              St Louis City is one FD I am aware of that runs their own ambulance.

            • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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              13 days ago

              Paramedics generally work for the fire department, and ambulances are dispatched from fire stations. The driver on the ambulance is often just a regular fire department chauffer who drew the short straw and is working ambulance duty that shift.

                • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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                  12 days ago

                  There are private ambulance companies, but those usually aren’t the ones that respond to a 911 calls.

                  In most areas, private ambulance companies either handle non-emergency medical transport or have contracts with places like nursing homes where they’re needed often enough that they can offer a less-expensive ride.

      • Diva (she/her)@lemmy.ml
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        14 days ago

        Making sure city streets are wide as a highway lane is integral to fire safety, maybe if they narrowed streets they would be responding to fewer grisly car crashes