Crash Responder Safety Week highlights traffic dangers for emergency responders

MOSES LAKE — This week, from Nov. 13 to Nov. 17, is Crash Responder Safety Week, according to an announcement from the International Association of Fire Fighters. The initiative is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration.

According to the statement, the initiative is designed to raise public awareness of the dangers firefighters and other first responders deal with when responding to traffic accidents and other calls where they may be in danger from traffic, as well as to urge the public to use extreme caution when driving near traffic accidents. 

Grant County Fire District 3 Deputy Chief David Durfee spoke about his experience with safety concerns while operating around traffic. 

“I would say for our fire district, it's one of the number one, heightened safety issues in our district due to the fact that we have three major highways and a freeway that go through our district,” Durfee said.

This danger is likely true for many other fire districts in the Columbia Basin, Durfee said.

“We have had an incident where we've had substantial damage to one of our engines that totaled it, put it out of service for two years,” Durfee said. “Luckily, nobody was injured, but it was very close to happening. Instances do happen where first responders are involved in incidents within the incident … That’s one of our big concerns, especially going into the winter months, it's definitely heightened for sure.”

According to the IAFF announcement, working at traffic incident scenes claims the life of nearly one first responder each week in the United States, and more sustain life-altering injuries. The statement said that the IAFF is urging the citizens they serve to do their part to protect themselves and responders by slowing down, moving over, and staying alert when approaching traffic incidents.

Durfee provided advice for the public on being safe around first responders at a traffic incident.

“What we ask the community to do is stay informed about safe practices. Stay informed about emergency protocols, cooperate with us, yield, follow instructions,” Durfee said. “We're not out there because we want to be, we're out there because we got called. So just heed the warnings, and then also just be proactive. Follow safe driving practices, maintain your vehicle condition, and encourage others to do the same.”

Emergencies have the danger of potentially leading to additional incidents.

“I think sometimes as the public, we get used to the lights of sirens, or maybe the emergency doesn't affect us, but when there are emergency responders responding on the highway, most likely it's for an incident, it's for an emergent incident, so a way to keep them safe, the public safe, is by heeding those instructions to yield, because if we create another incident within the incident then we can’t get to the original party,” Durfee said. “It’s to make everybody safe. I know it takes some time out of everybody’s day, but it could make your day too.”

Durfee said GCFD 3 firefighters go through training to learn safe practices for responding to a traffic incident. 

“First of all, obviously, we assist the crash victims, we offer biomedical aid, and try to minimize injuries to those involved. During that, we also do traffic control emergency management,” Durfee said. “So we go through training and different procedures on how to mitigate that emergency so another emergency doesn't happen.”

IAFF General President Edward Kelly commented on the subject in the announcement. 

“Firefighters and other emergency responders are the first on the scene to road all accidents, risking their safety to provide life-saving care. We ask the public to do their part by using extra caution and care around all traffic incidents,” Kelly said. 

    A Grant County Fire District 5 firefighting vehicle puts out a roadside fire after a vehicle collision east of Moses Lake. According to an announcement from the International Association of Fire Fighters, this week, from Nov. 13 to 17, is Crash Responder Safety Week.
  

Durfee elaborated on first responders’ priorities at an incident scene. 

“It's our goal to help people in need the quickest we can, the safest we can, and the faster we get home the (less) exposure that our department has out in the open,” Durfee said. “Our main goal is to get home safe to our families, but while providing the assistance to the community.”

Gabriel Davis may be reached at gdavis@columbiabasinherald.com. Download the Columbia Basin Herald app on iOS and Android.