Equip. for MVA fires on Ambulance service rigs

[hunden]

There are many cases of fire departments providing more and more EMS and recue services. Are there cases where a volunteer ambulance service has picked up the fire suppression/rescue role?

I live in a small town in Idaho that has a vol. ambulance service which serves a large area and a vol. fire department that serves only the town (nothing outside the city limits). If there is an MVA with a fire on the highways outside city limits, the only fire suppression is the fire extinguishers carried on the ambulance and the extrication vehicle. I'm thinking that the ambulance service could expand it's ability to handle an MVA fire with some sort of foam generator or slide in unit for the extrication rig.

This, in effect, would make the ambulance service the sole firefighting service outside the city limits. Is this unheard of?

[sgt128]

I think that the EMs vehicles should keep carrying the normal equipment, and not get involved in firefighting.
If a mutual aid agreement between the FD and EMS depts can not be reached consider purchasing a mini pumuper type deal for MVA fires.
I have seen departments who carry a booster tank and small pump on ambos for areas where there is no FD. This is actually a neat idea, but carryig actual water is very heavy and take s up a lot of space.Wheeled Coach has a Compressed Foam system availible on some new rigs, but even with this, this is a lot of space, and it gets the crew involved in something they may not have training for.
If your crews get adequate training, this may be a good option, not sure about retrofits, though.

[Aff]

I would have to agree with sgt128, a mini-pumper with good crew cross-training would be the best choice if M/A is not a possibility. Even with internal "A" foam, a booster tank of 50-150 gallons would be taxed to extinguish a fully involved large vehicle. We just had a full sized pick-up with topper burning stem to stern and it took exactly 249 gals of water and 1 gal of foam including a short road flush.