kenzo... re your fire engine thread a while ago. .... and anyones thoughts on this

ester

ester

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Re kenzo's thread recently about a fire engine going through a rural village at speed with no siren on.

Locally to me a fire engine driver is on trial for manslaughter when while attending to a 999 for a rta his use of the siren is being cited as the possible cause for a herd of cows to stampeded and kill a man....

I only spotted it today as there is a county court report of the trial (ongoing) in the local free paper.

http://www.burnhamandhighbridgeweek...KING_NEWS__Fireman_charged_over_farmer_death/

it surely puts fire engines in a slightly odd position in rural areas if he is found guilty, does anyone else know of anything similar.
 
Not fire engines, but I do remember riding a youngster out on rural roads and encountering a police car with sirens. We were just the other side of a blind bend, I heard fast car and popped neddy up the bank of an empty field just in case. As the car approached the bend they put on sirens and said horse shot across the field. I pulled up and returned to the road to notice the police car now reversing back down the road at speed. They'd realised what had happened and come back to make sure I was ok. Very nice you may think, however once I'd assured them I was fine they then drove off again, with sirens blaring....! Cue horse bolting back off across the field. Sigh!!

I do sympathise with the emergency services, they're in a tricky situation. They have to attend said emergency quickly and in rural areas that means narrow roads with blind bends so they do have to alert other road users to their presence. On the other hand, if I'd been younger/less experienced or if the field hadn't been there it could have ended up being more than a silly story.
 
The sirens are to alert you BEFORE you see it. On a country road that I feel is needed more than in town. The roads are smaller and windier - and ok they are going slower to a degree but many roads are single track.

about3 years ago I was out for a hack and unbeknown to me a guy had crashed his plane. So a load of emergency services were attending and it was up the road I was riding on. Because they had sirens on I was able to see them coming and get off the road. Had they not had them on I would have just though it was a truck speeding.

Yes cows bolt, but he wasn't PURPOSEFULLY scaring them so I dont think he should be done for it. How may folk could die because a emergency vehicle couldn't have its siren on, so wasnt heard until it was seen to late and had a collision?
 
hmm having done a bit more searching I think the cows were being moved down the road with his son, he was behind them, so am guessing the fireengine came in front and they turned and ran him over.
 
I completely agree with the above point (Wishful thinker). I have been trying to join the fire service as a fire fighter (looking unlikely now due to budget cuts, there is no recruitment planned across the UK for several years now, grr!), so have just asked some of the guys on that forum what their policies are regarding attending rural calls. I'll keep you posted on what they tell me.
 
That is a tragic story, but cows have stampeded and killed people in other situations without sirens being the cause I recall recent tales of dog walkers being killed when the dogs have frightened the herd.

I can't see that blaming a firefighter is going to achieve anything.

I have yet to find out what my horse is like with sirens...
 
I think the reason why very unusually action was taken here is that (allegedly) the sirens were asked to be switched off as the cattle were only going 100 yards, they were but then this chap allegedly got impatient and decided he was going to switch them back on while the cattle were still there in order to get his way through as they werent going fast enough for his liking. All this like all the facts are as the press choose to report, but if there wasnt some element of reckless lack of care theres no way the CPS would have agreed to any charge at all. Whether a jury takes the same view and whether the facts are as stated is yet to be seen at the trial but its only fair to point out that this is allegedly what happened
 
good point l and m, knowing where they were I would expect their were deep ditches either side of the road. I dont remember hearing about it at the time.
 
very sad all around, tragic accident or driver rushing to scene, still awful for all concerned.
We were coming home from horses one evening around a single track bendy road heard sirens but with the echo could not decided which direction they were coming from so just pulled into a layby, cue big fire engine hurtling around corner, see driver standing up on brakes and watched the vehicle just carry on sliding into us. thank god no one injured.
next time out walking with 3 youngsters in headcollars and leadropes and police car lights and sirens going sped around corner in road, thankfully see us stopped lights siren and engine.
Just examples to show emergency service drivers really do worry about the public
 
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We have had a few scarry meeting and some good ones. When I first hacked Kai out she wouldn't go near a fire engine, even without lights and sirens, so we collared a passing fire engine, and they had fun feeding her polos through the windows.

Now she is fne, which is good, as we had one engine with lights and sirens, nearly on 2 wheels, it came round the corner that fast, no chance of even slowing down.

Best one comming up behind us on a country road, they had lights, but no sirens. When they saw the horses, but still good distance, used the sirens just long enough to get our attention, but not scare the horses, which gave us a chance to trot the horses to get them off the road.
 
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