to buff or not to buff... that is the question.

[mobey]

Ya I once volleyed for a small town, I used to jump calls lots (just the good ones though).

As far as "Buffing"....... I used to do it quite a bit before I was married. Wait maybe buffing means something different here then it does there

[Chief1C]

Until I was on a crew that did it frequently, I had not heard the term "jurisdictional grievance". Some people get royally pissed off when you show up at their call, before they are even tapped out. Cops would call in wrecks, or state on the air that someone called them instead of 9-1-1; hell we'd get on scene before anyone was dispatched. :twisted:

Don't do that anymore, guess it doesn't matter about the patients life. It matters who is in someone else's sandbox.

[firedoc5]

Until I was on a crew that did it frequently, I had not heard the term "jurisdictional grievance". Some people get royally pissed off when you show up at their call, before they are even tapped out. Cops would call in wrecks, or state on the air that someone called them instead of 9-1-1; hell we'd get on scene before anyone was dispatched. :twisted:

Don't do that anymore, guess it doesn't matter about the patients life. It matters who is in someone else's sandbox.

I've seen that many times. Once in St.Louis there was a MVA on the Poplar St. Bridge right at the MO/IL state line. The local cops were trying to push one of the cars back onto the IL side, I guess to keep from having to deal with it. There was a big too-do about it. It even made the national news.

[scott33]

In spite of my avatar, I must say, from a volly perspective, I have little time for the Buffs. Only interested in coming out for the sexy jobs, never the 600lb lower GIB, and are usually (in my experience) the lower-end Basics with nothing to bring to the party other than a camera. We have a few regulars who are known to buff calls; the usual lust for the lights and sirens, but useless on scene. Mostly just children, but one in his mid 40s I try to avoid riding with.

If they spent as much time in the A&P books, as they do listening to their scanners, maybe they would be a little more respected, not to mention, knowledgeable.

I have suggested to my BOD that they should insist that every member requests permission from dispatch before turning up on scene, and dispatch should request that they respond back to HQ if they are not required on scene (usually 99% of the time). After all, they have openly made themselves available have they not?

Wankers!

[strippel]

I haven't since I was in my early 20s.

I take that back. A couple of weeks ago, I was doing stuff around the house on my day off. I head a siren, and made the mistake of looking out the window. ALS (3rd due) was just arriving at a crash at the end of my block.

It was raining, so I grabbed the umbrella, and took a short walk. By the time I got there, the local BLS had the patients packaged, and were loading. Vol Fire was throwing the roof they cut off back on top of the car.

Stood there a minute, tried to figure out how a single car took out a telephone pole, and trapped people on a beautiful straightaway. I gave up, talked to the fire chief and cop (non-accident related stuff), then went home.

When I work, I go where they send us. If we are closer than one of our other trucks, we trade off, no stealing calls from other agencies. No buffing, whacking, or wacking on or off the clock.

[Richard B the EMT]

Just a thought, but the terms "to polish" and "to buff" could be synonyms.

Think Gilbert and Sullivan's "When I was a Lad", from "HMS Pinafore":

I polished up the handles so care-full-lee that now I am the ruler of the Queen's Na-vy

[MSDeltaFlt]

Buff?!?!?!?

... I'm sorry. Probably shouldn't get on these forums after and while enjoying over a bottle of wine on my day off. I took it as a sexual statement. I was starting to get concerned.

Where I come from, we call it both "jumping calls" and "skud running" (in the aeromedical industry). We don't do that. We may listen on the scanner, but we won't jump calls. That's just rude.

Typing's a little tough. Damn, this sauvignon blanc is good.

[Flasurfbum]

If I stumble across something, or I hear something big going on close to me (lots of Federals, and lots of woop woops), I may grab the digital cam, and head out.

When I work in Jersey, I had the FD, and PD on my radio. We were often co dispatched with FD, so that wasn't much of an issue, but the EMS channel was a non-repeater channel, so several times if we weren't monitoring FD or PD, we would have missed vital info.

Plus I like to keep the volume low, and hear PD go out for an EMS call (why they catch it before us, beats me :roll:, but I would get up, put on my belt and jacket, look at my partner, and say, "we got a call." Then the tones go off.

I had one partner CONVINCED that there was a vibration I felt in my jaw (titanium plates in there) before the tones go off.

Probies..... :twisted:

[fireflymedic]

We scan occasionally just to determine whether we'll get kicked out or not since post dispatches us. God how I love the 45's, means I get to stay in bed at night ! I hear that and roll right back over. As far as responding when I'm not supposed to, nope, have no desire. I work hard enough as is responding for those who duck calls (my pet peeve !) so I don't need to respond when asked. However, if we are extremely busy and hear of a multi patient MVA that sounds serious or a code, we'll slide that way to lend a hand, but we ask first.

Now, as far as dealing with another service, ALOT of call jumping went on for one place I worked. It was a pissing match between the three services in town and when the tones dropped, it was heard by all, just a different tone dropped. All three fools went screeching around town trying to get there before the others just to get the run and justify their existance. It was horrible and patient care suffered tremendously. Is the reason I left the service and last time I checked it was the same way still. No excuse for it.

[BEorP]

Probies..... :twisted:

...said the 21 year old...