Problems securing scenes

[sfdlt5]

In the past couple of months our FD has responded to a few MVA's and wires down calls , wear it has become more and more difficult to keep pedestrians away from danger.

For instense we had an MVA on a front lawn of a house in which the guy is threatening to sue us for trespassing cause we told him to stay away from the vehicle. Which ended up in the center of his lawn. ( We have had many problems with this individual Chasing our calls)

We also had a live house entrance come down at another call and had pedestrians get5ting way to close. Telling them to move and explaining that they could not drive ower the wire.

any suggestions.

[DeputyChiefGonzo]

If I had a dollar for every moron that threatened to sue me over doing my job, I would be as rich as Bill Gates!

#1: when the FD responds to a call...they take possesion of the situation. If this guy was interfering, and it was my call, he would be arrested for interfering with Fire Department Operations! I have had this situation in the past...there is nothing like the threat of silver bracelets to change a few attitudes!

Let him sue you...when it gets to court, he will make himself look like a complete idiot!

#2: Where is the local police department to assist in crowd control?

Set up the fire line tape around the "hot zone" to mark it off. If the wires are down in the street, use the "big red truck" to block off the roadway. You don't have to give a doctoral dissertation to anyone who asks why they can't drive over or walk around the wires, just say it's dangerous and tell them to find another way!

[hwoods]

We got them here too. My wife once stopped a guy who was about to drive thru wires in the road by smacking her (lit) flare on the hood of his car. He got the message. We use our annual fund drive letter (actually a 4 page brochure) to pass along info to the community from time to time, and scene safety has been a point several times. When it is necessary to shut the road down we use the first uncommitted vehicle that comes along. (a tractor drawn aerial ladder is excellent but a engine usually does it.) We are polite and professional when communicating with those caught up in traffic snarls as much we can be, but some fools try our patience (ask my wife). As to "call chasers" carry some membership applications along and hand them out and tell the person to have it filled out and return it to you the next time they come to a call. You will not have that problem very long, or, you may get some new members. Either way, you solved the problem. Last, I love the cops, and we invite them to most calls but the workload they have is much bigger than ours and we are told that they are tied up and will be there as soon as someone is freed up. Stay Safe....