Cleanup at an MVA

[littlejohn]

Having just seen a post on the pager message thread, responding a brigade to clean up at an MVA (page confirmed no entrapments);

I don't recall exactly whose lap that responsibility that falls in to, but I thought it was SAPOL's job to ensure the road was passable. Or am I wrong?

This is of course hypothetical and nit picking. We tend to do most of the cleanup and I'm not about to refuse to go to a job to avoid doing so. Just curious about whether it's technically a CFS task.

[JC]

Technically it is the responsibility of the owner of the road, ie D.O.R.T or local Council depending on who's road it is, but in the real world SAPOL call the fire services because they will be there in 10 min not an hour or more (even longer if it after hours, so the road gets cleaned and opened quicker. But it all so depends on whats to be cleaned.

[squiddy]

Not to mention that DORT don't seem to equip their vehicles with working lights, so if the job is at night they are pretty much left to work in their headlights!

[Scania_1]

A clean up can include oil/coolant etc spills, which other agencies dont carry soakerall or similar readily on their vehicles. But the fire service does of course.

[5271rescue]

This came up last week at a VFBA neeting that Euan was at and the responce was that the owner of that road it is there job to clean it up,how ever if it is life threatening then its up to a emergency service to help out.But it is coming more common to see CFS/SES/MFS doing this work as we are cheap labour and some people think its our job...SAPOL would have to be the big time wasters of our time by calling us rather than the council or transport SA....

[Pipster]

That's cos Police don't want to wait around for 2 hours for Council or DRT to turn up, when CFS will come in 10 minutes....       

Pip

[bittenyakka]

would you call out your brigade Pip?

[Scania_1]

A spillage can be an enviromental danger as well as a danger to other motorists. We once went to an mva which happenned after a car slid out in a major spill of milk...

[Pipster]

would you call out your brigade Pip?

Depends on what the hazard is, where it is, and what sort of a risk it poses.

We tend to get called out more for traffic control (usually a 20 + minute delay for a police patrol to attend in our area), and with the multitude of blind corners, and morons that hoon around the hills, particularly at night) my primary concern is safety of those at the scene...

I've come across hazards on the road, which I have simply stopped and removed it myself, rather than call out CFS - or contacted the Council or DRT to deal with - but it all depends on the circumstances.

I am happy to call out my brigade to assist when it is something that poses an immediate hazard and deal with....we have been called by the local tow truck operator, to do traffic control, on a blind corner, while he dragged a car back onto the road.  (Police didn't attend).   

Pip

[Doug]

this is a bit of that subject, but last night i was travelling along heaslip road, where a fatal car crash had occured, even though you could see the flashing lights. no agencies would advise cars of detours, the smart thing they couldve done was there was an intersection about 250 meters before the scene they shouldve been detouring people down this side road, this wouldve saved people having to drive down near the scene and then drop a u turn because they have found out that you cant get through, when i went through there was quite alot of congestion.

[5271rescue]

It is not our job to detour cars/trucks what ever, that is the job of SAPOL or the owner of that road CFS members are not trained in road traffic control and we all know if you make a mistake it comes back to you if there is a problem when you take it upon yourself to change the flow of traffic...

[bittenyakka]

I was at A RCR one night redirecting traffic around an accident and while the police said we did the right thing as we could send the cars down side roads i learnt 1 thing. it is very hard to tell cars where you want them to go when you can't make eye contact with the driver. which resulted in some cars driving straight through the area surrounding the crash so you need to be very alert.

plus if the crash is on a major road it is often good to give the cars some direction or they quite possibly will get into more trouble.

[RescueHazmat]

I was at A RCR one night redirecting traffic around an accident and while the police said we did the right thing as we could send the cars down side roads i learnt 1 thing. it is very hard to tell cars where you want them to go when you can't make eye contact with the driver. which resulted in some cars driving straight through the area surrounding the crash so you need to be very alert.

plus if the crash is on a major road it is often good to give the cars some direction or they quite possibly will get into more trouble.

Were the police there?

[fireblade]

I  agree its not the job of a Fire fighter MFS or CFS to control traffic. To my understanding its the role of the police and in saying that I've been to a number of incidents over the years that you have to use two guys from your fire appliance to manage traffic from time to time as Sapol have not got the numbers in area straight away, its just the way it goes. In regards to cleaning the road way if its to much for two guys with brooms and shovels call the local council duty officer and let their road sweeper take care of it.

[5271rescue]

I can never understand why sapol only have one officer in a car,would it not be better to have two officers?

[alphaone]

this is a bit of that subject, but last night i was travelling along heaslip road, where a fatal car crash had occured, even though you could see the flashing lights. no agencies would advise cars of detours, the smart thing they couldve done was there was an intersection about 250 meters before the scene they shouldve been detouring people down this side road, this wouldve saved people having to drive down near the scene and then drop a u turn because they have found out that you cant get through, when i went through there was quite alot of congestion.

SAPOL were coordinating traffic control Sunday night. They decided were the roads were going to be blocked and were the vehicles were being detored. This was a prolonged incident for the crews and police in attendance.

[Camo]

I can never understand why sapol only have one officer in a car,would it not be better to have two officers?

Thats all well and good if the are more officers available....most of the time there isnt.

[bittenyakka]

I was at A RCR one night redirecting traffic around an accident and while the police said we did the right thing as we could send the cars down side roads i learnt 1 thing. it is very hard to tell cars where you want them to go when you can't make eye contact with the driver. which resulted in some cars driving straight through the area surrounding the crash so you need to be very alert.

plus if the crash is on a major road it is often good to give the cars some direction or they quite possibly will get into more trouble.

Were the police there?

An entire 2 police but i think they offered to do the paper work so our officers weren't about to pass that up

[RescueHazmat]

I was at A RCR one night redirecting traffic around an accident and while the police said we did the right thing as we could send the cars down side roads i learnt 1 thing. it is very hard to tell cars where you want them to go when you can't make eye contact with the driver. which resulted in some cars driving straight through the area surrounding the crash so you need to be very alert.

plus if the crash is on a major road it is often good to give the cars some direction or they quite possibly will get into more trouble.

Were the police there?

An entire 2 police but i think they offered to do the paper work so our officers weren't about to pass that up

They wouldn't have been helping you guys out to do paper work.. (CFS OIC's duties of collecting veh. details - rego's etc, possibly Occupants names if they were available) would have taken all of 2 minutes.. My guess would be they were doing their paper work.. (Which, granted, is on a scale which most people couldn't comprehend..)