Washing your rig!

[Underdawg3ate1]

Thats about our call volume as well Underdawg3ate1 so i definatly know about the dry spells.

I do full rig checks such as yours once a week (ie bulbs, under carriage, fluids, supplies). I make sure my personel restock whatever was used on the call and keep everything up to the required numbers per the checklist. If we are getting low on a certain supply I get the text message and make the purchase order.

I PM the rigs as per manufacturer recomendations. I use the milage on our call sheets to gauge. We just got all new tires just before winter so I will be good with them for awhile. I can put the tread depth gauge away now.

I have to look into waxing the inside. Might help out on the "messy" calls. I do wash and wipe the insides down, just never thought about waxing. Might have to try it tonight during my shift (at least in an out of sight place to test)

Im liking this thread! I now know I am not crazy

Awesome! I wax the inside just for dawg and pony shows, to bring out some shine and reflection. It does help cleaning up a bit better. One thing though is to not wax anything that isn't smooth as it'll stain and is a PIA to get get out.

Yeah I thought this subject would be good, I havn't seen anything like it already so I decided to start a thread on it.

Think maybe you could come work here? I don't like the cold...at all!

High today...70...

I'd LOVE it be back down in Texas agian! I was stationed at Ft Hood for 3 years and spent plenty of time down in Austin. Absolutely loved it! I was going to stay down there after my enlistment and get into meterology but I met my wife and she drug me back up into the cold! I'm pretty confident that if we didn't meet, I'd be living somewhere around Austin right.

Yeah I hate...hate,,,,HATE the cold!

[island emt]

Had to wash ours three times in the last 24 hours due to all the snow , Ice , & road salt crap on the truck..

Normally once a week it gets a top to bottom scrub outside, and inside after calls.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Had to wash ours three times in the last 24 hours due to all the snow , Ice , & road salt crap on the truck..

Normally once a week it gets a top to bottom scrub outside, and inside after calls.

Why would you wash the ambulance three times when you know that 5 minutes after you get done washing it it's gonna be as dirty as it was prior to you washing it the third time? Sort of defeats the purposes of washing doesn't it?

I take it to the drive in car wash, pop in 1.50 and have 6 minutes to wash it. This gets it clean, not spotless but clean. It also takes less than 20 minutes to dry it.

Edited December 22, 2010 by Ruffems

[island emt]

Why would you wash the ambulance three times when you know that 5 minutes after you get done washing it it's gonna be as dirty as it was prior to you washing it the third time? Sort of defeats the purposes of washing doesn't it?

I take it to the drive in car wash, pop in 1.50 and have 6 minutes to wash it. This gets it clean, not spotless but clean. It also takes less than 20 minutes to dry it.

Washed because it's so filthy that you can't see out the windows.. Here when the snow falls they use a mix of road salt , sand and other chemicals to clean the snow of. A two hour round trip to the hospital and the white truck is just about black. After sitting in the station for a couple hours, there is a pile of all the glop on the floor that thawed off the under carriage. Nearest carwash is 30 miles away.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Washed because it's so filthy that you can't see out the windows.. Here when the snow falls they use a mix of road salt , sand and other chemicals to clean the snow of. A two hour round trip to the hospital and the white truck is just about black. After sitting in the station for a couple hours, there is a pile of all the glop on the floor that thawed off the under carriage. Nearest carwash is 30 miles away.

I knew why you washed it so often. I was just trying to say in my head "GAWD I have to wash the rig again, I don't wanna"

I hate winter weather only because of this issue here. You have to wash the ambulance so often.

I still like the drive in car wash. but if you are 30 miles from one then your rig is gonna get dirty again.

I actually worked at a service one time that required we washed the ambulance after every single call unless back to backs.

It was quite tedious but the manager was an anal asshole.

[Lone Star]

When I worked in Detroit, those that were deployed out of the main station would wash the trucks inside and out, take inventory at the begining of every shift.

Those that were deployed from the 'outstations' were usually allowed to return to quarters between shifts. They were expected to wash their trucks daily as well.

The station I worked out of was the 'Detroit hit car', which meant that any call within the city limits of Detroit, any suburb or long distance transfer. We washed the outside of the truck as often as dispatch would allow us to get to Station 1. The interior of the truck was cleaned at the begining of every shift and between calls at the hospitals. One of the really cool things about working in the Metro area is that the hospitals usually took care of the EMS crews very well.

A clean truck not only reflects well on your service, but the on duty crew as well.

Cleaning the interior is a matter of sanitary concern. If you don't clean/decontaminate the inside of the truck after each call, you risk cross contaminating your patients, and yourself as well...

[Richard B the EMT]

I have 2 "Caution" flags to fly:

1) Careful with waxing the seats. I've slid all over the place, even with the seat belts on, due to someone having done this to the vinyl.

2) In below freezing weather, make sure the locks are dry, if you do wash the ambulance. My partner and I responded, in a snowstorm, to a multi-alarm fire, after washing the ambulance, and on arrival, couldn't open any compartments, or the "box" itself, to retrieve any equipment. The locks had all frozen! We got lucky, as several BLS ambulances got assigned, and there were fewer injured or smoke inhalation patients than ambulances.

(Side note on that fire- due to frozen hydrants, FDNY had to lay a lot of hose, and use Engine companies to relay water for quite a distance.)

[WolfmanHarris]

Washed because it's so filthy that you can't see out the windows.. Here when the snow falls they use a mix of road salt , sand and other chemicals to clean the snow of. A two hour round trip to the hospital and the white truck is just about black. After sitting in the station for a couple hours, there is a pile of all the glop on the floor that thawed off the under carriage. Nearest carwash is 30 miles away.

I just rinse in between calls during the winter. Hot water from a hose takes off all the snow and ice and most of the dirt and salt.

[FireMedic65]

At least once a shift the ambulance gets a minimal rinse. Unless it's really dirty, it gets washed. After each call, the inside is cleaned out. Cot sprayed down and wiped. Floors are cleaned with mop and cleaning solution.

Start of each shift rigs are washed. Insides are cleaned out and wiped down.

After calls where there is more than just a "transport" everything is cleaned. If it is "messy" it's put out of service and sanitized.

(at least that is what is supposed to happen.. not everyone follows the rules)

[island emt]

I knew why you washed it so often. I was just trying to say in my head "GAWD I have to wash the rig again, I don't wanna"

I hate winter weather only because of this issue here. You have to wash the ambulance so often.

I still like the drive in car wash. but if you are 30 miles from one then your rig is gonna get dirty again.

I actually worked at a service one time that required we washed the ambulance after every single call unless back to backs.

It was quite tedious but the manager was an anal asshole.

I'm not an "ANAL" manager but how my truck looks reflects on us personally. If you don't care enough to try & keep the truck clean , how well do you care about the patients.

How we look reflects a lot of what the taxpayer's perceive to be a value for them. We always get lots of compliments from our customers.

Now on back to back calls it might only get an interior cleaning and a quick hose off on the outside. During a blizzard we just try to keep the heavy crap off the outside and wait for a little down time in the heated station to thaw out the rest.

If you wipe all the door seals with armourall they won't freeze shut. Ours have electric locks on all the compartments so frozen locks are not a problem.