I 65 Ticket

[Landon]

Landon, I take it you've never done these jobs.

Clearly, as I have already stated I have not.

 

[Landon]

I'm too poor to live on my own for 3 days out of an ambulance. I'm so poor that Landon pays for my meals.

Typically, I bring food, but if I'm stuck on the truck all day, we don't have microwaves on the truck. So I'm stuck with cold food. Sandwiches aren't substantial enough to constitute a "meal" to keep me running all day. I need a meal, not a damn sammich.

Even if we cook meals at work, whether private service or 911, we have to go to the store to buy stuff to cook. So since the stores were closed, we couldn't even grab food to cook. But what do I know, I've only been doing this for a year.

Cause the store where food is bought wasn't open for several days before the storm hit where stuff to cook could have been bought ahead of time and stored. If you cannot survive 24 or even 48 hours on cold cut sandwichs, chips, water, fruit, or any food that does not require heat, maybe you should consider a career change.

 

[stephen87]

Yep, so easy to cook food on an ambulance.

 

[Wild Deuce]

Gents, Landon will not be convinced and he knows so much more about our profession than we do ... just let it go and move on.

 

[Landon]

Gents, Landon will not be convinced and he knows so much more about our profession than we do ... just let it go and move on.

Its really opened my eyes to just what we are in for if we ever truly experience a major disaster. Its scary to think that Joe Public can better survive then some of the emergency professionals. I mean come on, there are people that live out of their cars and your trying to tell me you cannot plan to survive 24-48 hours out of a vehicle(with 5 days notice) without fast food joints.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Its really opened my eyes to just what we are in for if we ever truly experience a major disaster. Its scary to think that Joe Public can better survive then some of the emergency professionals. I mean come on, there are people that live out of their cars and your trying to tell me you cannot plan to survive 24-48 hours out of a vehicle(with 5 days notice) without fast food joints.

Landon,

I've been involved in Emergency Services, Disaster Response, SAR, and related fields all of my life. Well, since 14 when I joined a Red Cross sponsored Explorer Group that was focused on First Aid.

I've been deployed to other countries to help with disaster recovery, worked several years on the street as an EMT, been on hundreds of SAR missions, and trained thousands of other people in these disciplines. The IWTFM in my .sig stands for "I Wrote The ****ing Manual" as a tongue-in-cheek play on that fact that I am the editor and contributing author of a rescue manual.

I've lived off-grid far away from any urban center for two decades now.

Additionally, I teach wilderness survival and feel pretty comfortable surviving in most environments under most circumstances.

I say all of that as a preface to this:

Yes, in a truly major disaster YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN. Especially early on.

And That Is How It Should Be.

You have been pretty clear that you haven't any experience with disaster response or emergency services, I am not really sure why you think your armchair quarterbacking carries any weight at all.

Yes, there's a lot of things that if I were the dictator in charge would be done differently, and there's still lots of room for improvement within the current system, but we live in an interdependent society and it takes ALL aspects of it to keep the system even minimally functional. We have Just In Time inventorying for most aspects of goods and services in this country. New Orleans is the perfect example of that. The Derecho two years ago that took out power to a three state area for several days another good example of that.

We as a society have the logistical capability to come in with massive resources when a problem occurs on a very small localized scale, but we simply do not have that ability on a regional scale. Well, we could, but no one wants to pay for that level of preparation.


Emergency Services in this country are only marginally better equipped to handle a breakdown of the current order of things than is the general public, and there are people in the general public who are way better equipped to deal with it than those emergency services. But the general public as a whole is not, and our society is continuing to encourage that dependency on a system that is not nearly as robust as it should be.

If you wish to make things better I respectfully suggest you get some experience with the things you are talking about rather than just going on about things which you have no experience. Your local CERT is a great place to start. Because, and I say this with complete sincerity, we need all the well-trained, well prepared people we can get, and if this is something that is important to you, like it was (and is) to me when I started, you can either be part of the solution, or just another wanker on the net spouting off about things he doesn't know. We got a surplus of the latter.

 

[Bunnykid68]

Its really opened my eyes to just what we are in for if we ever truly experience a major disaster. Its scary to think that Joe Public can better survive then some of the emergency professionals. I mean come on, there are people that live out of their cars and your trying to tell me you cannot plan to survive 24-48 hours out of a vehicle(with 5 days notice) without fast food joints.

Five days notice. Yeah, I guess you could say that, but that 1/4 inch of snow we got just didn't cause much trouble. I was told for 5 days there was a blizzard coming, I was ready as were a lot of people. But do you know what happens when people keep getting a 5 day notice of a blizzard that never arrives? The Boy That Cried Wolf comes to my mind. The government/weather reporters, whoever you wish to blame, is setting people up to fail.

I talked to people from Thursday until Saturday night that were worrying about whether they had enough, I just kept saying I will believe it when I see it. I had to stack 2 tires up and put a hat on it for the INGO snowman contest we got so little snow even though they kept telling us until noon on Sunday that it was going to be bad.

 

[actaeon277]

Emergency services workers don't need a warm meal, they can have a sandwich.
Yup, that's true.
And what does need have to do with it.
People are out rescuing people, plowing roads, and whatever.... let them have more than a sandwich.

Tell you what.
Why don't you have sandwiches after being out there.

 

[IndyGunworks]

I doubt many people would turn down a bacon sammich, storm or no storm.

 

[actaeon277]

I doubt many people would turn down a bacon sammich, storm or no storm.

I thought it understood that bacon sammich craftsmen were essential personal.

 

[Bunnykid68]

I doubt many people would turn down a bacon sammich, storm or no storm.

Can it be warm or does it have to be cold?

 

[actaeon277]

[video=youtube;Ep7FWnbAaCI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep7FWnbAaCI[/video]

 

[IndyDave1776]

Whoa. Looks like you need to take a pill.

You are the one who said I should be denied freedom of movement because it isn't good for the collective. Sounds like socialism to me.

 

[Snapdragon]

You are the one who said I should be denied freedom of movement because it isn't good for the collective. Sounds like socialism to me.

I don't subscribe to "isms". I was simply expressing my opinion.

 

[actaeon277]

[video=youtube;Z0GFRcFm-aY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY[/video]

 

[IndyDave1776]

I don't subscribe to "isms". I was simply expressing my opinion.

You just reminded me of the soliloquy in 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' in which Ferris explains his opposition to 'isms'.

 

[gunbunnies]

Here is a little fact about humans operating in -13 temperatures and 35 below wind chill factors....

Human beings including emergency response workers need to maintain a 98.6 body temperature in order to stay alive. Mother nature is of course trying to kill them while performing their jobs in mother natures chosen environment. These workers are of course afforded warm buildings and vehicles which they work in and out of throughout the emergency conditions. They may need to use their hands without much protection for the dexterity required to do certain jobs. They will wear layers of clothing and probably end up sweating in said clothing which will be too warm inside buildings and vehicles and too cold outside said locations. Sweat will cool their overall body temperature over time and they can become part of the people who require rescue workers assistance if they don't keep on top of conditions while working for long hours on the emergency. Hot meals provide required carbs for energy and added fuel to reheat the body from inside... Samwiches will provide carbs to the system but will require more to do the same job as warm foods and drinks provide... You have to feed the fire too work in and survive the cold....

Just saying...

 

[churchmouse]

I had a lengthy conversation with a very good and most trusted friend today on this very subject. He is a Fireman. He is one of those people that will put his life on the line to save yours. If you are trapped in a burning house and you hear the wagon roll up, pray he is on it because he will be coming to get you.
He told me about having to go out and get the idiots that did not stay home. Most all of these idiots were just bored and wanted to go out and see snowmageddon 1st hand. No destinations or reasons to be out in the conditions and most were not dressed for the weather and the vehicles were not up to the task as well. Some drunk, some stoned and the rest just idiots. Very few were out with a purpose.
He was not pleased to have put himself in harms way for no real reason. It was just stupid.
Now, before you say...."Oh, it was his job" I will simply say stuff it. That is a load of
Yes, his job is to rescue those who can be when in harms way. To go out and put yourself in harms way and cause these brave men to risk their lives is just wrong at every level. They had real issues come up while on these "Rescue" missions. To ask this of anyone is just wrong.
If conditions are that bad and you are not smart enough to wear a coat (yes, this actually happened) then stay home.Darwin will take care of you soon enough. Do not put others at risk while the process of natural selection is in play.

My comments have zero to do with your rights to move about freely, just do it with some sense.

 

[jamil]

I had a lengthy conversation with a very good and most trusted friend today on this very subject. He is a Fireman. He is one of those people that will put his life on the line to save yours. If you are trapped in a burning house and you here the wagon roll up, pray he is on it because he will be coming to get you.
He told me about having to go out and get the idiots that did not stay home. Most all of these idiots were just bored and wanted to go out and see snowmageddon 1st hand. No destinations or reasons to be out in the conditions and most were not dressed for the weather and the vehicles were not up to the task as well. Some drunk, some stoned and the rest just idiots. Very few were out with a purpose.
He was not pleased to have put himself in harms way for no real reason. It was just stupid.
Now, before you say...."Oh, it was his job" I will simply say stuff it. That is a load of
Yes, his job is to rescue those who can be when in harms way. To go out and put yourself in harms way and cause these brave men to risk their lives is just wrong at every level. They had real issues come up while on these "Rescue" missions. To ask this of anyone is just wrong.
If conditions are that bad and you are not smart enough to wear a coat (yes, this actually happened) then stay home.Darwin will take care of you soon enough. Do not put others at risk while the process of natural selection is in play.

My comments have zero to do with your rights to move about freely, just do it with some sense.

I'm not a purist. I recognize that people who don't share the same philosophy as me have a different outlook. So I would compromize to say, in an emergency, instead prohibiting "non-essential" people, how about this? It's not a crime to be on the roads until you become an unneccary burden.

If some bored stoned guy drives his 1972 Pinto out for adventure, and he manages to do so without impeding emergency workers, no harm no foul. If he gets stuck or otherwise needs rescued, taking resources from more important tasks, thats when you charge him with a crime.

I think there's not much that should be a crime until it acually causes harm.

 

[churchmouse]

I'm not a purist. I recognize that people who don't share the same philosophy as me have a different outlook. So I would compromize to say, in an emergency, instead prohibiting "non-essential" people, how about this? It's not a crime to be on the roads until you become an unneccary burden.

If some bored stoned guy drives his 1972 Pinto out for adventure, and he manages to do so without impeding emergency workers, no harm no foul. If he gets stuck or otherwise needs rescued, taking resources from more important tasks, thats when you charge him with a crime.

I think there's not much that should be a crime until it acually causes harm.

This makes good sense. I have to say I agree at some level with this.
That said, well, I am not sure how to respond. I think the powers that be were trying to keep Mr. stoner from causing havoc. I see both sides.