Please Give Way to Emergency Vehicles (It's the law...)

A friendly reminder that when the flashing red and white lights are activated on any fire department vehicle, including the Command Vehicle pick up truck, it signifies that an emergency response is in progress.

Monday around 4:30, during a serious medical trauma response near the ferry dock, the Rescue and the following Command Vehicle were transiting to the community dock to pass the patient to the paramedics arriving in the water taxi.  Two private vehicles coming from opposite directions stopped on the roadway lanes for a conversation after the Rescue went by but blocked the Command Vehicle from travelling, although the flashing emergency lights on top were activated.  One driver waved to the First Responder driver to pass on the inside on the ferry line-up lane.  Although it might have been an important conversation between those two drivers, an Emergency Vehicle should not be delayed and made to manoeuvre around vehicles stopped on the roadway blocking through traffic.

If there had been no emergency response at the time, and the red and white emergency lights had not been activated, then your Fire Department vehicle drivers are as willing as everyone else to sit idling behind and wait for the conversation to conclude.  That’s only neighbourly.  But during an emergency response, the neighbourly thing (and the regulation thing) for you to do is move and let the Fire Dept. vehicle pass without delay.

Thank you.  Who knows, someday it might be you that we are helping out on a bad day.

TIVFD