Any firefighters or EMTs out there? Got a question for you...

[AlexDaGator]

So the other day I'm driving down the 417. 4 lane highway with a wide central median. Speed limit is 65. I'm doing 75 like everybody else. That's the standard speed on that stretch of road. You can comfortably do that right next to a trooper with no fear.

So I come up behind a fire engine. Big one. Emergency lights flashing. In the fast lane. Doing about 61 or 62, well below the speed limit.

WTF? Slow fire? What's going on?

We are miles away from the next exit and there's nothing in the median or in the lanes going the other direction. By now there are like 4 cars right on my tail thinking the same thing as me. WTF?

It's after work. I'm tryna get home. Should I pass the fire truck? With the lights on? Nah. I can't. There's traffic in the slow lane going the same speed as the fire engine. I mean, they aren't going to pass the fire engine so they're going the same speed. It's a rolling road block.

Now I've got like 8 cars behind me.

I think maybe I should flash my brights. You know, "Hey fellas, slower traffic keep right".

What the hell?

Alex.

 

[NavetG8r]

Sounds like some firemen were trolling to me.

 

[ufgator812]

So the other day I'm driving down the 417. 4 lane highway with a wide central median. Speed limit is 65. I'm doing 75 like everybody else. That's the standard speed on that stretch of road. You can comfortably do that right next to a trooper with no fear.

So I come up behind a fire engine. Big one. Emergency lights flashing. In the fast lane. Doing about 61 or 62, well below the speed limit.

WTF? Slow fire? What's going on?

We are miles away from the next exit and there's nothing in the median or in the lanes going the other direction. By now there are like 4 cars right on my tail thinking the same thing as me. WTF?

It's after work. I'm tryna get home. Should I pass the fire truck? With the lights on? Nah. I can't. There's traffic in the slow lane going the same speed as the fire engine. I mean, they aren't going to pass the fire engine so they're going the same speed. It's a rolling road block.

Now I've got like 8 cars behind me.

I think maybe I should flash my brights. You know, "Hey fellas, slower traffic keep right".

What the hell?

Alex.

Maybe they were going to the engine driver's ex-wife's house?

 

[Swamp Queen]

Slow drivers in the left lane!

And on a side note...we need to add this emote to show extreme anger.

 

[Captain Sasquatch]

I put out a fire every time I get in the shower cause I'm so damn hot, but I can't help you on this one.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Get behind the firetruck and put your hazards on. Nobody can blame you, they'll think you are special and place blame on the dbag going the same speed as the firetruck in the other lane. Let someone else pass it first, then you can turn your hazards off and pass him too.

 

[Durty South Swamp]

I put out a fire every time I get in the shower cause I'm so damn hot, but I can't help you on this one.

I thought it was b/c of that burning sensation you have that penicilin still hasnt gotten rid of? hnoes:

 

[G 2]

I used to do like 85-90 on the 417 so I would have been like 'what firetruck?'. Seriously though I saw numerous ambulances that would do the same thing on the 408. They must have a governor set at 60.

 

[itsgr82bag8r]

I put out a fire every time I get in the shower cause I'm so damn hot, but I can't help you on this one.

You should use more KY.....

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Big truck, probably lotsa water. 8 lbs a gallon, do the math. It goes slow especially if there is an incline. The older trucks had left internal baffles so even if you could go fast sometime you didnt' want to.

Long, long ago I was a volunteer fd. We had a tanker truck that was pretty slow and had a governor on top of that. When we got on the interstate we usually turned off the lights because 55 was about all it would do. Perhaps they should have also.

Or maybe they were looking for a particular street address or preparing to turn around. I dunno.

 

[crosscreekcooter]

Well while we're asking questions, why is it seems every time I go to the grocery store, the ladder truck pulls up and about 8 firemen jump out and go inside grocery shopping. You would think they would make a list and send one guy in a car.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

That probably actually depends on department policy. Usually, for paid departments, if one goes, they must all go, together, and in their truck. If they get a call, they drop their bread, run to the door and get in the truck. If one guy was at the store in his personal vehicle, the response time would have to wait until this shopper left the store, drove to the station, and jumped into the truck waiting with the rest of the crew.

I wonder where you are that they have 8 guys on a truck. Most paid departments have been slashing staffing forever and run 4 or even 3 or 2 on a truck.

 

[NVGator]

Long, long ago I was a volunteer fd.

Dude, you are like 32 yo. Not that long ago.