Priceville Volunteer Fire Department

Morgan County will be under a BURN BAN from May 1 until October 31, 2011.  No burning of anything is permitted.  Here it is, simply put:
-You must have a state-issued burn permit from the Alabama Forestry Commission (AFC)
-Any loop-holes around needing a burn permit, created by AFC, are null and void because the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) has more restrictive policies.  Realize AFC and ADEM are two different regulating agencies with rules on burning.
-ADEM will fine you for failure to follow the BURN BAN.  Their restriction also ends on October 31st.

I believe we are all guilty of doing it... being distracted while driving.  How many of us eat, check out cars next to us, talk on our phones, or even worse, text while driving?  How many times have you been driving down the road and wondered "What in the world is that car in front of me doing?" as they weave in their lane or go 10 mph under the speed limit?  You pass them only to see the driver running their mouth on the cell phone or trying to read a text message.  All of these extra things we do distract us from our primary job: safely operating a motor vehicle. 

They say that driving while texting while driving is the same impairment as driving when you have had two alcoholic beverages.  How many of you would feel comfortable driving or being on the road with someone who has had two or more drinks?  Think of all the things you can miss in the time it takes for you to read a text message.  You might justify it to yourself that you only look away for a couple seconds.  Then I pose to you this: How many times have you stopped with only inches to spare?  How many times have you caught that other car trying to change lanes into you out of the corner of your eye?  How many times were you lucky to notice that piece of trash in the road and avoid it?  Realize, when you are going 60 mph, you are traveling 88 feet per second.  After two seconds (you know, the time you felt comfortable looking away from the road to the phone) you would have gone 176 feet.  It looks like you aren't going to miss anything by inches when you look away for a "couple seconds".

The moral of the story is the Priceville Fire Department responds to many car accidents.  Many of which are caused by distracted driving.  Click on the picture above for a two minute video.  It shows bus drivers texting while driving.  Would you want them driving you or your kids anywhere?  However, how many of you do it with your families in the car?  Arrive alive!

The storm season looked to be tame this time of year.  For the most part, the Town of Priceville made through unscathed.  In the event “The Big One” comes, are you prepared to act?  Do you know your shelter is ready for you and your family/friends?  Are you able to enter and secure it from the inside?  Is it clear for you to enter?  It hasn’t become a swimming pool and there aren’t any creatures taking-up shelter.  Has it?  Do you have the necessary supplies in there (a decent list of storm shelter supplies can be found here)?  If you don’t have a storm shelter/safe room of your own, did you know the Priceville Town Hall has a storm shelter in the basement?  These are all questions we need to ask.
 
The last “major” question is, does someone around you (not living with you) know where your storm shelter/safe room is located?  Think about that one for a second.  What happens if your shelter gets covered by a tree or remnants of a house or car?  Does someone know where to look for you?  Do you want us to look for you?  This is where the Priceville Fire Department has a request.  If you could, print and fill out the Microsoft Word document below showing us where your storm shelter/safe room is located on your property.  When you are done, please mail it to us at the address below or email it to PricevilleVFD@gmail.com.
 
Priceville Volunteer Fire Department
ATTN: Storm Shelter
1638 S. Bethel Road
Decatur, AL 35603

That seems to be the motto of many services: the phone company, the cable company, and the local gas company.  We had Lou Ann Mitchell from Wheeler Basin Natural Gas Company come out and give us some information on natural gas emergencies.  The best advice they had was to call 811 before you dig anywhere in your yard.  They will then gladly come out and tell you if you have any hazards which might prevent you from digging that swimming pool or putting up a fence in your yard.

They stressed if you smell gas, or have identified some hazard with your gas system, to evacuate the area and call the fire department at 911 or their number at 256-974-9023.

If you click HERE, you will be able to download the same information we received as a fire department.

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Lately, driving around town, one can notice more children looking at you through the back window, or standing up, leaning between the front seats.  Trying to get the parent’s attention usually yields in dirty looks or other gestures of thanks.  Whether it is a trip from home to New York or from your house to the grocery store, all children need to be wearing a restraint while riding in a vehicle. 

I remember being a small child riding around in the back of my father’s pickup.  I also remember riding in my uncle’s muscle car and the seat belts were there “for decoration”.  It wasn't too long ago when mothers would carry their babies on their laps as the family went on an outing.  Times have changed, laws are becoming more stringent, and cars are becoming safer.  Children, however, are still dying due to not being properly restrained in a vehicle.

The Department of Transportation has statistics on highway fatalities.  Using their Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), you can narrow down statistics using their “Query” feature.  Alabama, in 2007, had 193 motor vehicle fatalities for those under the age of 15*.  Of those, 94 children were reported to not have been properly restrained.  In 2006, out of 227 fatalities, there were 126 unrestrained children.  In 2005, they comprised 86 of the 206 fatalities.  If you think about it, nearly HALF of those deaths may have been prevented had the children been restrained.  That is 306 children who might be alive if they had been wearing a seat belt or in a car seat.  That is also 306 drivers who thought it would never happen to them.

Here is the law as stated by Act 2006-623 effective July 1, 2006:
"(1) Infant only seats and convertible seats used in the rear facing position for infants until at least one year of age or 20 pounds.

"(2) Convertible seats in the forward position or forward facing seats until the child is at least five years of age or 40 pounds.

"(3) Booster seats until the child is six years of age.

"(4) Seat belts until 15 years of age."

It is also recommended to keep children in the back seat until the age of 12.  It is believed the air bag can do more harm than good for a child in the front seat.  This is why there is an airbag disable feature in some pickups.  Remember, Parents, you should wear your seat belts.  Children learn from the examples you provide.

If you, or someone you know, cannot afford a car seat, you might qualify for a free one through the Alabama Head Injury Foundation.  You can contact them at 1-800-823-3818.  For advice regarding car seat installation, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's website has good information regarding the LATCH system now required on car seats.

There is one more key thing- if you are ever involved in a serious car accident, you should replace the car seat.  Regardless if the seat looks good to you, the seat did its job in protecting your child once, but there is no guarantee it will perform as admirably a second time.  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has a list of criteria you can use to determine if the accident you were in warrants the need to dispose of a car seat.  If you are worried about who will pick up the bill for a new seat, you should verify with your insurance agent that the replacement of a car seat is included during reparations for the accident.

 *The age of 15 was used in the statistics because that is where the Child Restraint Law ends.  No, it doesn’t mean those of us over the age of 16 are not required to wear a seat belt.  It just means that law viewed those up to, and including, the age of 15, as children.  The rest of the values used in the queries were Alabama, ages 0-15, and restraint system-use of “None Used”.  There may be detractors because “None Used” also encompasses those not killed in a motor vehicle but killed as a result of a motor vehicle.

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It is Friday, 5:30 PM- that means it is rush hour.  You look up ahead to see traffic starting to clog up.  Man, this is going to interfere with your dinner/family/life plans... Whatever reason it may be, you are not happy because you would rather be anywhere but here.  You notice this nuisance is due to a car accident where an impatient person shot through a red light, T-boning another car.  Fire department, EMS, and police are on the scene and have traffic flowing in one lane.  You finally get your chance, and you are going to take it.  You race through your portal to the other side of the accident to where the open road awaits.  You shoot by the scene, narrowly missing a fireman by a few feet, but nonetheless, you are homeward bound...

All of this sounds quite dramatic, but it is the real thing.  The orange cones we set up are used in hopes you might give us the space we need to work on the scene.  They will not prevent you from hitting us.  The times we really feel this is an issue is when we work wrecks on the Interstate.  During these situations we want you to move to the lane furthest from us and slow down.  Remember, there is a Move-Over Law that took effect in 2006 that requires vehicles to move into the furthest lane from emergency workers working on the roadside.  Frequently, we will use fire trucks to act as barriers for us, but that does not negate the need for you to pull over or reduce your speed.  Trying to give ourselves enough room to safely work the scene comes first, allowing traffic to flow is secondary.  If you click on the picture with this article, you will see a video regarding this issue.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us with your concerns.  Remember to drive safe out there, you aren't the only one who wants to go home at the end of their day...