Kinda ticks me off.....

[arhaney]

http://cms.firehouse.com/content/art...Id=46&id=42556


Notice down at the bottom, last sentence:

Hidalgo County officials said the driver of the rescue vehicle was a volunteer.

OK, WTF difference does it really make?????????????????

[Dave1983]

Wow, thats takeing the term "on scene" to a whole new level.

And no, I dont see why they had to make a point of saying it was a volunteer.

[arhaney]

Originally posted by Dave1983
Wow, thats takeing the term "on scene" to a whole new level.

LMAO on that one, I know this sounds bad, but atleast the poor guy was already deceased.

[FFTide]

I must say that caught my eye too.

Surprised they didn't give the drivers age, but I guess he wasn't 18.

Anyone could have made that mistake if it was dark out. Granted he could have been a little more cautious, but at least the PT was dead right???

[fftrainer]

"Rescue 1 on patient... oops I mean on scene!!"

Another one of those hate to joke at other peoples expense, but sometimes the opportunity is just begging for it!

I guess I could technically see how this could happen depending on weather, etc. But I want to say that if visibility was poor and/or if the median was that overgrown that you couldn't see someone laying there I would guess you probably shouldn't have been driving a rig there in the first place, but that's Monday morning QB so I am just guessing at best.

On the last statement.... I agree with the WTF. No need and especially the way it was just thrown in arbitrarily as the last sentence of the article with no context around it. Bottomline is an apparatus operator had poor judgement or was instructed poorly by command regardless of his employment status. I have guys at my vol house that are over the road, CDL, truck drivers. What if they were the operator of the rig in this case. They were probably the most trained to drive a large truck than anyone else in the department but because they are a vol. FF it makes a difference. Whatever, this issue will always be a debate as usual we will make the best of what we are faced with.

[RyanEMVFD]

As for running over the body, from what I gathered from the article the blanket covering the body blended in with the snow. Sounds like an accident to me. As for mentioning that the driver was a volunteer, seems the newspaper is trying to sell copies. No real reason to report that.

[spearsm]

Hidalgo County officials said the driver of the rescue vehicle was a volunteer.

Does that mean that it leaves a different track?

O.k. Thanks for the useless info..

[Weruj1]

you know Alan .......I was really thinking the same thing .............who gives a rats ***** ????????? Worthless sentence ....

[AxeHole]

Hell while they were at it they should have gave the race of the driver too.. That'd clear it up a little better.

[firenresq77]

I read that the blanket covered body looked like debris from the accident........


I don't know about you, but I don't like to drive over debris...... The Chief doesn't like it too well, either!!

[pengman]

I sent an e-mail to the newsroom manager asking why they felt they needed to add at the end of the report that it was a volunteer, Here is the reply I got.



Thank you for your note. It is our belief that both volunteer and paid
public servants should be held accountable for their actions. They report
to the public, and the public is entitled to know what they do.

One of the top elements of any news story is who it is about. In this case
if we had not identified the driver, our viewers might have assumed the
driver was a regular paid member of the Hidalgo County firefighting staff.
Clarifying who was behind the wheel of the vehicle involved in the incident
had nothing to do with why the accident occurred. In this case, the
accident is still under investigation and the volunteer will not be
permitted to return to work until the investigation is complete.

Volunteers do indeed provide valuable assistance to firefighters around the
state, on that we can agree. The fact that one of them was involved in an
accident does not diminish their role, their service to the community or
the fact they are appreciated. But their status as volunteers does not give
them immunity from being held responsible for their actions and being
identified as a volunteer when they are involved in an incident covered on
the news.

Wynne Wood
Newsroom Office Manager
KOAT-TV

[arhaney]

pengman, thanks for the info.

[mcaldwell]

Originally posted by pengman
...Volunteers do indeed provide valuable assistance to firefighters around the
state...

Hmmmmmm!

This one doesn't exactly sit right with me either.

Volunteers ARE Firefighters in my neck of the woods.

[arhaney]

Originally posted by mcaldwell


Hmmmmmm!

This one doesn't exactly sit right with me either.

Volunteers ARE Firefighters in my neck of the woods.

Dang, I missed that earlier......was in a hurry to read and just plain missed that quote. Perhaps the reporter (Or whatever) needs to hang around some volunteer department for a while!