Sadly that about sums it up: either someone has an axe to grind, or theres rampant abuse in that area. This happens every couple years in PA, some trooper somewhere gets a bug up his butt ( either rightfully so or otherwise) about the FD, and we all hear about this. What irked me this time around is them ( PSP ) coming out and flat out saying about how some FD vehicles may look like LEO's. You can pretty much toss out the rest of the article ( specifically citing the article out of Pittsburgh here) on how they want us to be safe, cause the meat and potatoes there was on how some POVs may or may not resemble unmarked LEOs. So where do I begin the flame war there: should we take away Fire Police too? That has the word Police in it, and the public may misinterpret that. We should get rid of "Special Fire Police": maybe someone will think they are Feds??
I say all that lightly because lets look at what they claim its all about, safety. Now lets look at all EVs in PA; regardless of function. If they want to go after Firefighters POVs, then lets go across the board and go after all "illegal" lighting on vehicles. This renders 75% of ambulances and fire trucks "illegal", as in the Commonwealth of PA, all forward facing white flashing lights must be rendered "off" when the vehicle is in park.The current law also makes most Police vehicles illegal, as NO vehicle is permitted flashing white/clear to the rear ( ie clear strobes in reverse lights). In fact; most PSP units I've seen are in violation of the "no flashing white to the front" while on vehicle stops as most fail to turn off the flashing takedowns on their bars , which for those who know PSP lighting, are no small light. PSP features the Whelen DUO bars, with SXTDLED takedowns. They are blindingly bright ( I would know, I have 4 of them in my Liberty ).
Part of where it all falls apart is something another member touched on earlier without actually stating this ( on how some departments wont allow FFs to have exterior bars) : and a part some members here dont fully understand as this provides a unique problem. PA is a Commonwealth, not a state. This means a great deal in this regard; the boiled down version is that power falls to the lowest form of government. IE, in theory; that department is legally allowed to tell their members 'no exterior bars', however thats only legal in their area, not the rest of the Commonwealth. It all gets very dicey from there, and I wont sit here and argue most of the semantics I feel are valid simply because its all been discussed ad nauseum without no resolve to the end ( ie a change in the laws). And for those who have expressed how we should attempt change in the laws: trust me, we have, myself included. It has been brought to lawmakers attention multiple times. Its like the red-headed step child of 2 cousins , we all know its there, but if we dont talk about it, and noone gets stupid about things, then we just leave it go.
Until some trooper somewhere gets a bug up his butt, then we start this whole circus again.
This is just the tip of the iceberg on the topic to me, but I felt the need to weigh in to give some of our other members some better understanding of the whys and hows on the whole topic.
These statements are my own and do not reflect the views or opinions of any company or department I represent.
