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Police in Durachit, WA, are leading a movement to re-classify the term “first responder” to only mean Law Enforcement. Thier reasoning is that at most calls they [the police] are first on scene, thus fire and EMS must be the second and third responders.
Police are the 1st responders
Police and Sheriff associations across the country agree. No formal bills have been presented to any legislative body. But lobbying efforts are under way to ensure once a bill is submitted it is passed as quickly as possible.
The chief of Durachit police explains it this way. “My officers are always on scene first. They ensure the scene is safe for when the Fire and EMS people arrive. Heck the Fire department calls my cops ‘blue canaries’. They intentionally show up second as safety measure.”
The term “Blue Canaries” is a reference to old mining terms. Miners years ago would bring canaries into mine shafts. If the canary dies it is time to leave the mine shaft due to poison gasses building up. Police officers in a blue uniform thus get the nickname “Blue Canaries”.
The Durachit fire chief does not see it the same way. “The police are in squad cars on patrol. My Fire and EMS personel are at the station. The cops get to go right to the scene. We have to get to our vehicles, get them started, and only then can we get to the scene.”
Various fire and EMS associations were contacted for this article but none were willing to go on the record with a comment.
One prominent EMS association did reveal this to us on a condition of anonymity. “If the police are going to make a big deal about who is 1st, 2nd, 3rd to a scene and try to classify us with official terms we might just have to change terms all together. We are all responding to emergencies. So we are going to put forth the proposal that “1st responder” is replaced with “Emergency Responder”.
