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Think of road as a hot zone

A simple shift in mindset to help every engineer avoid and survive a collision

AFDcrash-1.jpeg

Four Colorado firefighters were injured when their fire apparatus collided with another vehicle.

Photo/Aurora FD Facebook

Fire apparatus spend countless hours each year traveling among incidents, transporting critical water, equipment and, most importantly, firefighters.

Any roadway, especially when stopped on the side of the road, is a hot zone.

Following are actions for every engineer to observe to avoid and survive a collision.

  1. Minimize your exposure time to all other vehicle traffic.
  2. Put as much distance as possible between you and those vehicles.
  3. Use other vehicles – ambulances and police cruisers – to shield the incident scene from intrusion by other vehicles.
  4. Move towards a warm zone with purpose and urgency.

Read next: How to avoid and survive an ambulance collision