NewtonPA.com

I am editing & reposting this under General Discussion since no one responded to my questions under the NRVFC.

I fully support the NRVFC and the few experiences I have had with them over the years have been quite positive.  I do have some questions though about the different light bars and grille lights installed on private vehicles used by volunteer firemen.

1. Could someone clarify what type pf lights are authorized for a volunteer's private vehicle?

2. Are citizens required to yield to these private vehicles?   There is some confusion here since drivers are not required to pull over for an unmarked police vehicle flashing its lights until they reach a safe destination.

3.  Are these lights regulated or restricted or can anyone buy them?  If anyone can buy them, how do we know the person is really a volunteer fireman?

4.  Are there standards (type, design, color, placement) for light bars and/or grille lights or does each municipality and/or county set their own?

5.  Finally, who else can acquire and use these types of lights legally besides volunteer fireman?  As far as I know, police are not permitted to install them on their private vehicles.

Thanks.

JoeP

Not getting a response from any member of the NRVFC to my post above, I did some digging.  I found the following which at the very least seems to indicate that some of those big light bars (with multiple lights) on private pickup trucks may be  illegal.  Furthermore, I found nothing in the statutes where citizens must yield to private vehicles with "visual signals" (blue lights), since these vehicles are not permitted to be classified/used as "emergency vehicles".  

If anyone would like to clarify my observations, please do.
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This excerpt is from the Pa. State Police application instructions for requesting emergency vehicle lights;

From section 4 of the instructions;

4. Private vehicles for the following persons WILL NOT be considered for an emergency vehicle designation:

Volunteer firemen, fire commissioners, fire inspectors, fire police, fire engineers, other fire department or fire company personnel, members of rescue organizations, police (full and part-time), special police, auxillary police, campus police, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and disaster control personnel, red cross personnel, military personnel, and Department of Corrections personnel.
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This excerpt following is from:

Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes THE VEHICLE CODE (TITLE 75),  PART IV VEHICLE CHARACTERISTICS,CHAPTER 45. OTHER REQUIRED EQUIPMENT

Go to this link to read the entire statute - > http://members.aol.com/StatutesP3/75.Cp.45D.html

§4572 Visual signals on authorized vehicles.

(a) Flashing or revolving blue lights.--Ambulance personnel, volunteer firefighters certified volunteer search and rescue scuba divers and owners and handlers of dogs used in tracking humans may each equip one motor vehicle with no more than two flashing or revolving blue lights.
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Further clarification of "Blue Light" usage was found here -> http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/067/chapter173/chap173toc.html

Blue lights. Under 75 Pa.C.S. §  4572(a) (relating to visual signals on authorized vehicles), ambulance personnel, owners and handlers of dogs used in tracking humans, and volunteer firefighters may each equip one personal vehicle with no more than two flashing or revolving blue lights or one light-bar assembly containing no more than two blue lights. Only blue lights may be used on the light-bar assembly.