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A whole new look

Peachtree City changing design on emergency vehicles

By LEE WILLIAMS
lwilliams@TheCitizenNews.com

If you see an emergency vehicle flying past you in Peachtree City with a jarring red and yellow pattern on the back, don’t fret.

You’re eyes are not deceiving you. It’s simply the new look adopted by Peachtree City Fire and Rescue in the interest of saving lives.

“Statistically, we kill, on the average, over 100 firefighters a year,” said Lt. Peki Prince, who is charged with handling operations and EMS at the department. “Not here in Peachtree City, but nationally. Part of that statistic is heart attacks and that’s the biggest part, and we have started a national push for health and wellness to address those issues. The second biggest area where we are killing our firefighters is on roadway incidents while securing the scenes.”

Prince indicated emergency vehicles in England and Israel are using striping to make their vehicles more noticeable.

“That is the recommendation for the National Fire Protection Association to require that or suggest that as a standard,” said Prince, seated in her office at headquarters on Peachtree Parkway.

“It is in process, but through going to the conferences and reading different materials, we decided as a department to go ahead and be proactive.”

Assistant Fire Chief Ed Eiswerth, who participated in the interview Wednesday, indicated the department tried the new look out on their new ladder truck, Quint 83. Next, they tried the look on the ambulances. “There were some pros and cons,” Eiswerth said.

“The first time you see it, you’re like, ‘Whoa!’” Prince added.

“That’s what we want,” Eiswerth responded. “I want people to see that that’s a fire vehicle or emergency vehicle.”

Prince, Eiswerth and shift commander Lt. Jeff Koldoff led the push for the look, Eiswerth indicated. The new look is just one of several new procedures approved by the department, Eiswerth added.

The department has chosen a new way of parking their emergency vehicles when blocking the road when responding to accidents on highways and roads.

Prince indicated this measure was critical.

“There’s been too many times when there is an accident on a two-lane highway, such as Ga. Highway 54, a tractor-trailer will start to move over because they see the flashing lights and then all of a sudden they start to jack-knife because they’ve moved and they push into the emergency vehicle,” Prince said. “There are other incidents where they are loading the patient, the drivers are not paying attention. They’re on their cellphone, changing CDS, something like that, and they run right into the back of the ambulance causing amputation and death. Those are the issues that we’re going to try to address so that it doesn’t happen here. The safety of our men is paramount.”

Prince indicated the department is just as concerned about protecting the lives of the patients they are trying to help after an accident. Therefore, changes to improve safety, were necessary.

The department also will be adding stripes to the side of emergency vehicles and installing different strobe lights on their vehicles.

“Next, they are looking at getting lime green reflective vests for everybody,” Eiswerth said. “So it’s an ongoing process to preclude us from having someone get hurt or injured or killed.”