Stolen Ambulance in Baltimore City

[WestSideBorderPatrol]

City Ambulance Stolen, Found In Va.

BALTIMORE -- A Baltimore fire spokesman said that a city fire department ambulance was found in Virginia after being stolen.

Spokesman Chief Kevin Cartwright said the ambulance was found early Wednesday afternoon in Stafford County. The ambulance was stolen from a University of Maryland Medical Center emergency bay Wednesday at about 10:30 a.m.

A Prince George's County police officer said he last saw the ambulance on the Capital Beltway near Route 4 heading toward Virginia with its lights and sirens on.

A patient was taken inside and the ambulance was left unlocked, officials said.

Cartwright said policy requires the ambulance to be secured, but apparently it wasn't this time. He said any drugs inside are locked in a container.

http://www.wbaltv.com/news/15293267/detail.html

Is it really that difficult to lock the doors?

[fallout]

It's in my department's SOGs to secure the ambulance everywhere, including scenes, but...they only give us one set of keys. Do the math on how that works out.

[Just Plain Ruff]

it's a good thing they haven't caught me yet.

[Dustdevil]

It's in my department's SOGs to secure the ambulance everywhere, including scenes, but...they only give us one set of keys. Do the math on how that works out.

See, if I were a City Manager, councilman, commissioner, or whatever, and that fact came to my attention, it would just be a no-brainer that my EMS or fire chief was a, well... no-brainer.

But yeah, I've been in that same position before. If you bother to point it out to administration, they just tag you as a troublemaker and get all defensive because you saw the obvious that they weren't smart enough to see.

But yeah, if this was policy in Baltimore, and they had the keys to pull it off, the crew should be fired. If it was not policy, or if it was policy, but the crews were not given the means to carry it out, then the chief should be fired. Poor leadership begets poor operations from the top down.

[mediccjh]

And that is why all ambulances should have the Kussmaul systems installed as a standard.

For those who don't know what it is, you flip a switch, which lets you keep the truck running without the keys in the ignition. If anyone steps on the brake without the keys in, the engine shuts off.

[Kiwiology]

happened a couple times here, we had one in my city stolen from ED by an escaped mental patient which was quickly apprehended and returned.

[firedoc5]

We had two guys returning from a call and there was guy trying to drive one of the rigs out of the bay. The ambulance was so old it yet had a battery switch so it was the only one he could start. He was too drunk to even walk and he kept pulling forward, backing up, and trying to turn while in the bay. Even though there were five other ambulances in there the only damage he done was to the one he was in and he knocked off a water spigot.

[bosc]

And that is why all ambulances should have the Kussmaul systems installed as a standard.

For those who don't know what it is, you flip a switch, which lets you keep the truck running without the keys in the ignition. If anyone steps on the brake without the keys in, the engine shuts off.

An excellent system however it only works when its used.

Here its a struggle to get crew to even take the keys out of the ignition despite having power locks and this anti-theft system installed.

[Dustdevil]

Even though there were five other ambulances in there the only damage he done was to the one he was in and he knocked off a water spigot.

Water spigots on an ambulance?

Was this a squmper, or what? :?

[Richard B the EMT]

And that is why all ambulances should have the Kussmaul systems installed as a standard.

For those who don't know what it is, you flip a switch, which lets you keep the truck running without the keys in the ignition. If anyone steps on the brake without the keys in, the engine shuts off.

While I don't know if that is the brand we use, FDNY EMS has that type system. Also, both crew members are issued a full set of keys to their assigned ambulance for the tour.