Self-dispatching: Chief says firefighter’s vehicle hit by drunk driver shouldn’t have been at crash scene
After a suspected drunk driver slammed into a firefighter’s vehicle with lights on blocking the roadway near a crash scene, the fire chief is pointing out that the firefighter shouldn’t have had his pickup in that position. The incident occurred early Thursday in Oakfield Township, Michigan, where the chief calls out the visiting firefighter for self-dispatching.
The firefighter, from the Shelby Benona Fire Department in Oceana County, was uninjured and the woman who hit the vehicle had minor injuries. According to news coverage, the firefighter was in the area visiting relatives when he heard the sirens and decided to offer assistance.
Oakfield Township Fire Chief Samuel Peterson said the firefighter was with an out-of-county fire department and had “self-dispatched” to the scene following the crash at Wabasis Avenue and M-57 shortly after 1 a.m.
The firefighter had parked his pickup, with emergency lights activated, near the Halfway Restaurant and was using it as a “blocker” to prevent traffic from entering the crash scene.
Peterson said the out-of-county firefighter did not follow incident command protocols by self-dispatching to the scene. He also said Oakfield Township firefighters would not have closed the road in the spot where the pickup was parked.
Peterson said the firefighter’s truck had been parked on the road to be used as a “blocker” vehicle to assist with the shutdown of the roadway. However, Peterson said the firefighter should never have been on scene to begin with.
“His intentions were good; unfortunately, that throws a whole monkey wrench into our objectives,” he said.
Peterson said no emergency personnel on scene had been made aware of the firefighter’s presence working to block the road.
“At the very minimum, if you do come across something, you should always check in with the incident command, tell them you are available, ask them if you would like assistance,” he said. “Unless we are truly deficient in our staffing, they really aren’t needed … coupled with the fact we already had a second department there assisting us.”
