EMT/Fire/Rescue Off Duty Gear?

B

Binford

Joined
May 24, 2004
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For any of you EMTs, Firemen or Rescue workers, what kind of gear do you carry (in case of emergency or call to duty) when you're off duty?

I usually carry a small belt pouch with gloves, a microshield, and a couple 2x2s; my BM556 clipped to right front pocket; SwissTool RS or Old Wave either in pocket or belt pouch; and sometimes BM Rescue Hook.
 
I carry absolutely nothing, and I see and hear nothing when I am off duty as well. Have you ever heard, 'No good deed goes unpunished'?
 
Rhys MacArthur said:
I carry absolutely nothing, and I see and hear nothing when I am off duty as well. Have you ever heard, 'No good deed goes unpunished'?
Click to expand...

You know, with todays lawsuit happy people, that may not be a bad idea. However, some of us could not do that.

I suggest checking with your agency's director/Chief to see if the agencies malpracice insurance covers you while off duty. Good Samaritan laws only cover a professional rescuer to a certain extent.

I still carry a fully stocked trauma/cardiac kit in my private vehicle (no drugs, and I'm retired), and a small O2 tank. Wish I had a Lifepak 10 to go with it.
 
I'm not trying to be a Rescue Ranger or anything. I'm an EMT/FF in a pretty rural area in the Midwest. I also work in an office that has a lot of walk-in traffic (old people waiting to drop over at any time) and I drive a lot for work. I have come up on accidents where it has taken 45 minutes for the ambulance to arrive (this was not in my service area of course). And, like CODE3 said, even though this is a sue-happy society, it's not that bad in this area and I couldn't make myself just drive by.

I have a fairly well stocked bag in the truck and a few extra things in my office. But, what got me thinking about this was last weekend I was at a 4th of July parade with other activities like a mud bog, tractor pull, softball & volleyball tourny etc. The local ambulance got called to the volleyball court and hauled someone off with a back problem. That got me thinking that if something else happened in town, I would probably need/want to respond, but I was no where near my truck and I didn't even have gloves on me (at that time).

So, I was just curious if there are any other volunteer or professionals out there that carry something specific for those kinds of situations or if there is something else out there that you carry that's not necessarily standard equipment on your rig.
 
I keep a medic bag packed in the Jeep. Other than that I don't carry anything on me. No gloves, no shears, no MicroShield...nothing. In my neck of the woods carrying all that stuff on you is akin to being a Mall Ninja. The only guys who carry all that crap are firefighter wannabes (volunteers). When I'm off duty I am off duty unless I see an incident take place where lives are in danger. Only then do I act. If I witness a motor vehicle accident or someone pass out in front I will do what I can to help. At a majority of these calls the Fire Ninjas are already on scene and they don't take to kindly to a paid firefighter/EMT buffing their calls even though they do it to us. Even though I am a firefighter 24/7/365 I also have a life outside of the job. I do not spend every waking minute thinking about the job.
 
Good point, but in my neck of the woods it's all volunteers. The only paid "professionals" we deal with are at the Hospital. The other difference here is that if we see someone go down or come up on a car wreck - it's probably someone we know - and the other people around also know who the local EMTs are so you're expected to do something.

Also, there aren't any malls close by, so we'd be considered Wal-Mart Ninjas :D :D
 
Yeah, what KV said.

I once got off an overtime shift and was returning my gear to the station I normally worked out of, when I spot a fresh car accident. It wasn't a grinder, so I whipped out my cell phone and called it in as I drove on by.

It sounds callous, but I've lived mostly in urban areas where the boys have a short response time, so there isn't alot of point to stopping to help.
 
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