You've seen tens of thousands of movies that tell you to "move along...there's nothing to see here by a police officier.  There is plenty to see.  It's blood, guts, pain, etc., and you won't forget it if you're involved.  We have been programmed to not assist our fellow man.  I'm waiting for the rain to stop and I'll do a film with Michael on the highway to point out to you the importance of having a lst aid kit, water, and a blanket.  My deputies are not on US95....their stuck in their office.  Our response time to assist any one just got a helluva lot longer.  Your alone out there.  That medical kit, water & a blanket will be you life-line.  So for God's sake drop that pepsi, phone and help your neighbor on the road.  You men have always been highly tuned in to another driver & how you perceive a possible danger to yourself or others.  You move out of the way.  Pull over at the sign of an accident and assist us.  Our resources are gone...we got to help one another.  A little blood is not going to kill you, but the wake up call will do wonders for you.  Laying on a highway is not fun and it is very scary, but a fellow American helping you out & holding you during that truma will stay with you for ever.  So, please put that medical kit in the truck, the water & the blanket and pray.

Edited March 5, 20169 yr by Mopar1973Man

Good point about disconnecting the ground on the battery. In this case I don't think the occupants could have released the hood latch. Mini van was laying on its side after rolling once or twice.

Makes me think of having an emergency disconnect easily reached by emergency personal.

I'd like to see a video sometime of that and I'm thinking of getting a video cam for my truck and just run it when on the highway. 

Edited March 7, 20169 yr by JAG1

14 minutes ago, JAG1 said:

In this case I don't think the occupants could have released the hood latch.

Still easy as pie to open. Break out the grill and the locate the cable find a object like a shovel handle or stick and wrap the cable around the stick and lever away from the latch. The cable should pull loose from the latch assembly and release the hood. Typically I grab a Halligan tool break the grill out and grab the cable with the fork end and twist. Pops the hood every time.

Edited March 7, 20169 yr by Mopar1973Man

Thanks Mike another tool to get in the bag behind the seat. Even if a guy had one of the larger flat bars I bet that would do it too.

Edited March 7, 20169 yr by JAG1

Another handy tool one should carry is a small simple glass hammer seat belt cutter. I have seen and heard from lots of folks who were in an accident situation where they could not for the life of them break out a window and or have come across extremely obese people in a vehicle where they could not get around them to unlatch the seat belt.

I have seen numerous videos of people using all their might to break out side windows with a hammer even and it took several tries before breaking them out.

Edited March 7, 20169 yr by Wild and Free

Be aware there leaked information coming to our fire dept that laminate glass on the side windows might return. If so the whole glass hammer won't work it more like trying to use it on the windshield. But currently all car and truck have tempered glass in the side and rear windows.

There is a glass saw for laminate glass you can cut out a windshield in just a minute or less.

One of the best extrication tool that most carpenters own is a battery powered sawzall.There is a lot to know about AirBag and placement as well as structure of a vehicle before I would suggest anyone attempting to use this tool an a vehicle. Most vehicles to today hide airbags in the a-pillar, above the side windows, etc. Just blindly cutting without looking can be very deadly for the person trapped inside or yourself. Amazing enough somewhere on the Internet there is a mobile app that list every single vehicle and placement of all the airbags. 

Here... I tell a tale of another time I pulled over and older gent needed help. An older couple were traveling north the husband need to take a leak. So he pulled over in a wide spot and walk over the embankment to give himself cover. Needless to say the ground is slick with fine gravel. So he tumbled to the bottom no more than 4-5 feet most. He wasn't really hurt but embarrassed. Ambulance crew was there but under staffed for the task. So I jump ed right on in to give support for this gent and get him back to the top. They clean him up and sent him on his way. Some times is just being there to give a hand.

I can only wonder what prompted the start of this thread?

I've always been that type of person to offer a helping hand. And sometimes afterwards, I think to myself how it was probably worse to do something than not. Most times its okay. Amazingly, I have not experienced many traumatic things that put me in much danger.

A persons first reaction is going to be shock from the event. Then they will blindly approach something to gawk at it. A person ought to think twice about whats really unfolding in front of them before making some determination on what to do. Call 911 first. Afterwards, legal obligation goes out the window. But moral, ethical sets in. Do you really know what your doing?

Are you going to help or hinder progress? You could cause yourself to be another victim. If you don't know how to properly assess the dangers, stay away from it.

Alot of people are not properly equipped to face the dangers or hazards that could face them. Thats why we have first responders. They got all toys and gadgets to handle things, rightly.

My point being, if you witness something that is not an immediate danger to life or health, don't intervene directly. Stop before the accident or area and be the one to alert others. Call 911 if necessary.

If you happen to come upon or see something unfold, such as a car fire, an accident of sorts, or maybe a vehicle go into a body of water, it just may be that time to take action on your behalf. It really boils down to how much of your life or safety do you want to risk for someone elses sake. I'm not going to stop you, and I may even join you.

But try to remember, stay calm, don't get tunnel vision and do a 360 of the area before you do something that may kill you.

One incident you may recall from my posts is my MIL. She was coming home from work one night and hit a patch of road that caused her to lose control. She ended up going into a creek near the house. Thankfully it turned out to be for the better. But if I was a passerby that night and saw her stuck in the truck, I would have go in to save her from the water.

I always have a 1st aid kit, various tools that can accomplish certain things, a chainsaw, emergency blankets, a firearm, and water.

If you really feel your lacking in the ability to do certain humane things, take a local 1st aid, cpr class and/or CERT class. This will atleast somewhat empower you with more knowledge on how to deal with something so 1st responders can transition into the scene.

3 hours ago, hex0rz said:

I can only wonder what prompted the start of this thread?

Being part of the fire department you see all kind of rude behavior. Like I happen to be coming up on a burning semi loaded with hay. I parked the truck and bailed up and identified myself to the local FD and proceed to help fight the fire and a helping hand. It the same token MoparMom was back getting people to pull over and not block the two lane highway. One guy walk up to her and was pissed off because it was going to delay his time schedule. He needed to get to Nevada like right now. 

I've seen people sitting cars and more worried about getting good photos/video with their iPhone than driving past the scene safely. Nearly had another EMS person hit by a car.

I've been to accidents and had people upset because the Emergency Services are not as quick whatever city they live in. Again out here no one lives at the fire houses or ambulance bay. They respond from home to a shed to pick up th equipment. Even Life Flight has to fly quite a distance and then, locate a LZ and most time do a hand off with local crews.

I noticed down south they now have a watchman just to watch over the crew from the traffic going by, if anything isn't right he will yell out to warn them.

1 minute ago, JAG1 said:

I noticed down south they now have a watchman just to watch over the crew from the traffic going by, if anything isn't right he will yell out to warn them.

Nice in larger cities when that can get extra resources. Like for us out here you might end up fighting fire as a single person for a few hours. Been there done that.

I think one of the worse situations is if a wreck is around a bend and your all alone with no one else to help slow folks coming. Better get the flares out fast.

I once witnessed a head on at nite  the occupants got out but each turned off their tail lights  I immediatly yelled out to turn them back on but it was too late another car carreened into the rear of the wreck. Be careful you guys, those folks who walked away with turned off headlights were not very smart but me telling them to turn them back on could have been ever worse. Either one could have been hit walking back to the car.

It is the heat of the moment that can cause a bad decision with things happening too fast around you. So always think about what is happening.

Edited March 19, 20169 yr by JAG1

I've always said that its too easy to get a drivers license.  Not only should there be much stricter training requirements and driving tests but 18 years old should be the minimum age as well.  A 16 year old generally doesnt have the logics capacity these days.

But.....not only is it all to easy to get a license, the states are plenty happy to hand them out to immigrants who cant even read the road signs.

So when you all talk about the things people do on the road, well its mostly because no one has ever told them otherwise and our legislators obviously dont care if the uneducated illiterate people are out there on the roadways.  Last time I heard, a drivers license was a privilege.....not a right.

Any members with a CDL know exactly what I'm talking about too.....

In regards to vehicle accidents. Most people are too quick to drive speed limit or +5 or +10 over. I'm typically -5 to -10 under the speed limit. I know there is all kind of blind corners, ignorant people, vision limitations with night time out here. So many times I've been close calls to people driving like "Jack A__es" on the road. Personally I'm not happy with the fact of speed limits over 65 MPH at all. There is no vehicle out that can efficiently run those speeds period.

Now working with the fire department for over 10 years now. I really do hate working traffic on vehicle accidents because people cant understand there is a vehicle accident to slow down. I mean slow down from 65 MPH to 10-15 MPH as you go through a accident scene.

Be here we are small and limited amount of volunteers for all agencies (except police) than handle anything that is toss out at us. Extreme distances to any kind of help as the way of hostpitals. Yeah we got a hostpital in McCall, ID and Grangevile, ID but 90% of the time those victims of accidents are sent to McCall to be packaged up again to be sent to Boise, ID or life flighted to Boise, ID directly. 

Like both counties now are limiting police force and where and when they can patrol. This is just increasing the time for response for them now.

So it comes to down to preventing accidents and injuries for us. Being smart, taking your time. Be prepared for anything to happen.

I made a 14 hr run yesterday from down south. Couldn't wait to get away from the fast pace. Saw two close calls from speeders. They think it's like watching television.

Two guys in diesel pick ups stomped it up the steep grades. Went by like they thought something was wrong with my Cummins cause I stayed behind.  I just enjoyed how nice it was to be driving thru the mountains and planning my next destination.

2 minutes ago, JAG1 said:

Saw two close calls from speeders. They think it's like watching television.

No joke. I got to admit I'm way ahead of most being I've not really had any TV for over 15 years. So all these cop shows and high speed racing around I don't even watch that stuff. I get to see the ugly side of helping folks that live in that world of fast cars and movie dreaming. That alone is enough to slow anyone down.