Preventing our apparatus being from stolen / hijacked

[IzzyEng4 427]

I'm starting this as a spin-off from another thread.

How should we as emergency personnel stop our vehicles from being stolen? I know the topic has come up a bunch of times especially recently with the taking of a chief's vehicle in LI on a college campus. 1 time out of a couple million calls nationwide we see that an apparatus is taken from an incident scene, sometimes right out of the station also by determined perp. What should we do about this?

Not many people know about this but there is an item that is available for police vehicles that disengages the transmission thus you able to leave the vehicle running. Should this be installed in chief and staff vehicles?

What about fire engines, rescues and trucks? How many departments have their driver standby with the rig? My volunteer department that I came from the driver stays with the rig however at work we "beach the whale" and go in to investigate due to manpower constraints, unless we are operating the pump / aerial.

On the topic of ambulances, every VAC that I was involved with and people I know who worked for private services have specked out their rigs with a locking / unlocking system with either a simple hidden release button or a keyless entry pad. Should these be standard items installed now?

We all know that apparatus thefts are few and far between, unfortunately they are seen more so now due to a combination of economics (people who really know the worth of the equipment on our vehicles) to plain stupidity. I ask this, how do we make ourselves less of a target for apparatus thefts?

[NJMedic 96]

We have over 40 vehicles equipped with anti theft devices. We started doing this 15 years ago after we had two ambulances stolen in the span on 2 months. All ambulances, chiefs vehicles, and support vehicles have the device. I forget the name of the device but will check tonight when I go into work. Basically its a one inch by one inch square module that attaches to the dashboard near the steering colum. Its basically a toggle switch with two LEDs. Switch the toggle up to arm and the steering column locks. If you press the brake pedal the horn goes off. Haven't has a problem with the devices and we haven't had any vehicles stolen since.

Two years ago we were able to secure Homeland Security funds to offer the same devices to every EMS vehicle in Middlesex County.

[FDNYDCHI 38]

on our 2 ambulances we have a toggle switch that when you flip it, you can turn the ignition and take the key out with the eng. still running. If you step on the break with the key out it shuts off. I think its the say system another member posted.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

The system FDNYDCHI mentioned is the one that is most prevalent in my area. As far as the flycars...they all come with door remotes...everyone locks it with that so it can stay running. In warmer weather they generally get shut down unless its baking and need the A/C for comfort/med issues.

[Bnechis 3,961]

I used the systems mentioned above on both ambulances and flycars. After extensive searching I have not found any comperarable system for fire apparatus or other larger vehicles. In fact NFPA 1901 is more concerned with making it easy to steal the vehicle. 1901 requires all vehicles to have either a push button or if a keyed ignition the key must be chained to the dashboard so it can not be removed from the vehicle and "lost"

[64FFMJK 21]

I do not know what system Arlington (Dutchess) uses however there are keypads on all of the Ambulances, fly cars, cheif cars. They do not have any on the engines or trucks however SOP's state that they are not to be left unatended. I seems like a great system so far since I am still new to using it.