Fire dept emergency lights

I have two Feniex visor lights(blue and white), and two Whelen TIR3's(blue) in the grill. Two Feniex(what ever they call their 3 LED surface mount light) on a license plate bracket they sell, and two in the rear window- all blue.
I don't always run the visor lights or the rear lights. When it's the non-tourist season(October-April) traffic is pretty light, so the grill lights tend to do the trick. Summer months, pretty much have to run them all to get people out of the way(traffic in the area gets to be a nightmare. Usually I make it to the fire house in under 5 minutes. During the summer, if I don't run lights, it could take 45).
I also have a Whelen electronic air horn- this helps to move the stubborn(ignorant, oblivious etc.) people out of the way. It's actually a full function siren, but that isn't legal for me to use. The electronic air horn is.

 

Here's my setup...

Front:



Rear:



i kept mine interal

 

I don't recommend any Code 2 1/2 lights at all.

You are putting yourself and the general public at danger for no reason. Catch calls by being at your station more and training, being proficient at putting your PPE on faster, tank-line pulls, throwing ladders, preplanning with your fellow ff's and of course familiarity with your equipment will get you to do way cooler things on scene than getting there arguably faster looking like an idiot ricky rescue guy.

Take a look at FF LODD's for response incidents. The last one for responding to an incident happened only on Christmas a few months ago and it will happen again. https://www.firerescue1.com/LODD-Li...Young-NJ-firefighter-dies-responding-to-call/

 

I understand all the negative thoughts/feedback on running emergency lights, trust me... I'm a seasoned FF. Our Dept is able to get our apparatus out the door quickly, so for me (and i can only assume others) my lights are to allow me to get into/on SCENE faster where my POV will be for how ever long we need to be there. Let's face it, the young bucks are all hanging out at the station constantly while the older guys (mostly officers) are busy with life. The guys can get out the door and i can meet them on scene at the same time. I keep my turnout gear in my truck along with basic tools and an ABC... We always arrive within a minute of each other. Works out great.

I'm sure there will be some hate thrown at going straight to scene too, but hey, in a volunteer world (80% of FF's in the country are volunteer) every second counts...

 

I was at this LODD funeral. No one except the PD, her family, and possibly members of their dept know the circumstances surrounding Natalie's accident, however we don't know the facts- and it's wrong to try to point this towards it being an issue of her driving/emergency lights/speeding etc. without the facts. There could of been wildlife in the road, potholes, could of been a mechanical failure of her car- who knows.

Fact of the matter is, with traffic, without lights, it could take me 45 minutes to get to the station from my home during the summer. With the lights, it usually cuts it down to about 10 minutes. If it's the middle of the night, with no traffic, I don't even run them, and I get there in 5- doing the speed limit. Driving with due regard, and safety of everyone on the road is key. If I don't get to the station in once piece, I'm useless to the people who called for help. Even fully marked police vehicles get into accidents with light and sirens. I'd venture to say thousands of us use lights almost every day, without issue. There are going to be accidents. There's bound to be accidents(and some seriously delayed responses) if we didn't run any lights.

 

Not cool at all for the speeder that gets pulled over.

Last summer I drove past a guy on the expressway here in Philly that was pulled over by a 2nd gen MGM undercover. Dude had sliders, aftermarket front bumper and was lifted. He had a patrol car parked behind him which is SOP when pulled over by undercover, so I know it was legit. Surprised me a bit. He had rectangular blue/red led bar right under his rear view mirror that was flashing.

 

I understand the concern for legal status but I am only wanting to upgrade my current running system I know all laws and paper work as I've been running for over 25 years and also hideaways are not legal here

 

How did you manage to get the back in with the sliding window also I cant use passenger side visor light due to it not fitting with the radar

 

I recall back in the day when I was volunteer fire/EMS, Washington state allowed volunteers to use a green flashing light. The department did a group buy of green bubble dash lights that plugged into the lighter socket.

 

Here is one that I just finished building. I have been Career and I am still Volunteering. 37 years in the Fire Service. Where I started we were able to run Blue for Fire Service and Green for Ambulance Service. The Career Department I was on we weren't allowed to run while we were off duty. When I left there I took over a Career/Volunteer Department as the Career Asst. Fire Chief where the Police Chief was my boss. All of my senior officers were volunteer accept my Station Captain he was also Career. All of my officers were allowed to run lights. They had to have front and rear coverage. Red lights with a 100 watt siren. Notice I said Career and not Professional, That's because Career and Volunteer are all Professional, Just one gets paid and the other doesn't. That's the only difference.

 

Wow.... the poor guy just wanted help mounting lights...

 

Can you post a few pics

 

Yeah volunteer I've ran for 20+years and alot of the guys have grill lights and thought it may be a nice touch with my visor( driver side only)

 

Cant use hideaways here wish we could

 

I will take some in the next day or so and post them up.

 

Any updates here? This is the first emergency lighting thread i found that’s under 6 years old.

My 2 yo son has had two ER trips in the last 3 weeks for breathing issues, which were terrifying...don’t know what I would’ve done if we got caught in any traffic at all, so starting to research..

 

What do you actually wanna know about them?

Just putting them on for emergency lights to get to the dr is extremely illegal just an FYI.

Better off speeding until you get pulled over then explaining the situation for an escort or calling yourself into the cops letting them know what is going on.

 

You absolutely cannot install emergency vehicle lights or sirens on your vehicle unless you are an emergency responder.

That is against several laws, and is a Class 3 Misdemeanor.

§ 14-276.1. Impersonation of firemen or emergency medical services personnel.
It is a Class 3 misdemeanor, for any person, with intent to deceive, to impersonate a fireman or any emergency medical services personnel, whether paid or voluntary, by a false statement, display of insignia, emblem, or other identification on his person or property, or any other act, which indicates a false status of affiliation, membership, or level of training or proficiency, if:
(1) The impersonation is made with intent to impede the performance of the duties of a fireman or any emergency medical services personnel, or
(2) Any person reasonably relies on the impersonation and as a result suffers injury to person or property.
For purposes of this section, emergency medical services personnel means an emergency medical responder, emergency medical technician, advanced emergency medical technician, paramedic, or other member of a rescue squad or other emergency medical organization. (1981, c. 432, s. 1; 1993, c. 539, s. 169; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c); 1997-443, s. 11A.129B; 2015-290, s. 4.)

 

You can have Amber emergency lights in Colorado.

But you can only use them whilst going under 25 mph.

No sirens and no "Dazzling" lights.

 

I wouldn’t put amber lights in the same category as blue and red emergency lighting, it’s more of cautionary warning lighting.