Mountain Rescue + other services

Depending on your opinion of the word international... I’m from the US and I know that here in St. Louis we have tow trucks with red/blue lights and sirens. I personally hate it.

Quote from StuartA1984

sorry should of explained it better. international to me is everywere outside of the UK.
tow trucks as is a lowloader type. (wonder why they have lights and sirens) have you ever seen them responding or do they just use the lights when loading a car for towing?

In my area (Upstate NY) they only use their lights (ambers) when loading or transporting a vehicle.

Quote from StuartA1984

sorry should of explained it better. international to me is everywere outside of the UK.
tow trucks as is a lowloader type. (wonder why they have lights and sirens) have you ever seen them responding or do they just use the lights when loading a car for towing?

Lowloader or hook. They use their lights and sirens when responding to a scene and when operating, and yes I have seen them.

So i would know here in NYS, Tow Trucks here use (Ambers) No sirens. I have not seen a tow truck in my past 5 years use different lighting or a siren that would be illegal to have a siren on any DOT or public safety vehicle.

In St. Louis MoDOT does not operate tow trucks but there are emergency response vehicles (like squads) with red/blues and sirens. The tow trucks also have red/blues and sirens and ARE privately owned.

Iowa also classifies wreckers as "emergency vehicles" and towing services are allowed to use red/blue lighting specifically when they are on scene. Unless extreme circumstances apply (several mile traffic backup, for example) they cannot use red/blue lights while responding or after they have departed. They cannot use sirens as far as I'm aware. They are all privately owned. This was explained to a coworker of mine who specifically asked Motor Vehicle Enforcement about this after he noticed towing companies running red/blue (who subsequently explained it to me).

- Rural mail carriers typically will have an amber strobing light on the top of their vehicles that runs continuously while on their delivery routes.
- Highway Helper program only uses lighting (amber) when on scene.
- I've only personally seen a few POVs belonging to volunteer firefighters. Only one had any additional lighting, and it was just a single rotating dash light in white.
- Funeral procession cars are permitted purple lighting, if memory serves correct, while conducting a procession but I don't think they're allowed sirens.

In short... I need to brush up on our state laws a bit, it looks like... lol

NY is
Fire Trucks, Ambulances, Police have red lights with blue facing rear, and sirens.
POVs owned by fire chiefs have emergency lights and siren as they are an emergency vehicle.
POVs owned by firefighters have blue lights, no siren
POVs owned by members of volunteer ambulance corps have green lights, no siren.
No other vehicles are allowed these lights.
But your mountain rescue thing, that is an emergency service. In NYS those are firefighters in the departments that are trained for Search & Rescue and in places separate agencies that are still considered emergency services.

Quote from StuartA1984

Not sure if anyone can help, just to expalin abit more.

Im just intrested to know are Mountain Rescue Teams and other search teams allow to respond on Blues and Twos (sorry old term).
also what about all the ambulance service companys popping up to support our NHS trust services. like British Red Cross and St John Ambulance,

Thanks

to our international Members do you have services what arent normally front line responders which respond with lights and sirens?

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In Britain Depending on if you are in Scotland or a County pf England in Scotland The Mountain Rescue is ran by the Police but does not have Blues Anywhere in Scotland, Now in England it depends on which area you are in I Think Lancashire has Blues Not sure but I knows Wales has and In Ireland well I Just don't know but BRC And St Johns has Blue Lights on their Ambulances

Since you asked for all countries I can explain how it works here in Portugal
We have a few major organizations that have units able to respond to mountain rescue calls:

-PSP (Public Safety Police) has very few of them since they mainly work around urban areas
-GNR with GIPS division , GNR is a police which is republican military police (is a confusing thing for people outside of Portugal) they have the GIPS division which have firefighting vehicles, mountain rescue, hazmat units they are not common to see inside urban areas as they mainly operate outside/around urban areas
-ANPC (National Civil Protection Association) has a few of them
All of the above have lights and sirens (all mountain rescue units)

Fire Departments may have this equipment either in a trailer (not so common) or they have these either in VSAT/VETA (same as your heavy rescue/utility unit) or at a VOPE (specific operations vehicle) which in some cases does not have lights and sirens, but with that said, they can always use a beacon on top[Blocked Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Blaulicht.gif]

Quote from StuartA1984

Not sure if anyone can help, just to expalin abit more.

Im just intrested to know are Mountain Rescue Teams and other search teams allow to respond on Blues and Twos (sorry old term).
also what about all the ambulance service companys popping up to support our NHS trust services. like British Red Cross and St John Ambulance,

Thanks

to our international Members do you have services what arent normally front line responders which respond with lights and sirens?

Display More

[Blocked Image: https://www.jamesalpe.co.uk/wp-content/themes/jamesalpe/dist/images/sidebar2.jpg]Yes Stuart, they can respond on Blue Light's and Sirens.

Quote from StuartA1984

I have seen a Few mountain Rescue teams from accross the UK have blue lights fitted. but i wasnt sure if they 'respond' on blues and two. also the RAF and RN have mountain rescue teams but not sure if they respond on 'blues and twos' either.

The Royal Air force Mountain Rescue Team has Blues But I Didn't know the Royal Navy had that I know they use to help by sending out a Helicopter but not a Van or something like that

RN doesn't have rescue teams but does have blue light (and blue/yellow battenburg marked) vehicles for explosive ordnance disposal teams to respond across the UK.

Also, some private ambulance companies can use blue's but it depends on the county in England.

Coastguard teams have blues on their vehicles but they cannot use the exemptions for blue light use like police, fire and ambulance.

Mountain Rescue Teams have blues on their vehicles in England and Wales.

Quote from FirefighterE32

So i would know here in NYS, Tow Trucks here use (Ambers) No sirens. I have not seen a tow truck in my past 5 years use different lighting or a siren that would be illegal to have a siren on any DOT or public safety vehicle.

Tell me about it, I recently moved from Upstate NY to Las Cruces, NM and came across several tow trucks on my trip down here that were operating with red lights/sirens. In the US in most cases they're tow services that are contracted by a municipality (police department) and use them for when towing on 'official business'.

What's worse is the state of New Mexico's emergency vehicle lighting. It seems down here that the only color lighting that's controlled by law is red. Fire, EMS & Police all run red lighting (or a combo of red and another color). Literally -any- other utility / road work / dump truck / heavy machinery / etc just run whatever lighting they feel like. I've actually seen state DOT contractors doing roadwork operating with green, blue, white and amber on the same vehicle along with hideaway white strobes in the headlights and wig-wag tail lights.

I can't count the number of times I've started to pull over for a DOT road work truck coming up behind me. It's infuriating.