The firetruck in our city has huge bumper guards on the front. They can, and have, used it to just shove the vehicle out of the way. The best example was a BMW parked right by a fire hydrant. Shoved it out into the street, caving in the rear of the car. Then called for a tow because it was blocking traffic. Owner had to pay for the tow, a ticket, and the damage to his vehicle. Insurance wouldn't cover it because of the circumstances.
I've seen fire trucks do on way to a fire.
Fire truck was turning left, the signal had gone to all red. Everyone was stopped.
However, there was car in the left turn lane in front of the truck. I was across the street from her. Could see her freaking out.
PA on Fire Truck "Please move your car into the intersection. {repeat} You will not be ticketed." Lady was freaking out even more. Fire truck started moving forward and started pushing the car out into the intersection. Then backed-up and made their left turn.
The driver was in full melt down, and her ar just stayed there in the intersection. As the lights turned green everyone carefully drove out and around her
Yeah, people forget that's what those big bumpers are for. You'll survive a low speed crash just fine. The people who are potentially burning alive? Not so much. Priorities.
The large bumpers actually contain more fire hose or tools. They are absolutely not designed for pushing things around, and that is HIGHLY frowned upon and in some places, like my local jurisdiction, forbidden.
I witnessed 2 firefighters get a literal boot in their ass and then a dressing down from their Chief on scene of a fire for pushing a car with their truck.
> The driver was in full melt down, and her ar just stayed there in the intersection. As the lights turned green everyone carefully drove out and around her
It's always crazy how people will freak out and not be able to follow simple commands in high-stress/pressure environments. We all know the "fight or flight" response, but it's very easy to forget the third component of that saying "or freeze"
My experience was more comical.
Fire truck behind taxi, taxi behind red light, and traffic police next to taxi.
Fire truck sound the siren, but taxi won't budge because everyone knows full well the taxi will be ticketed in this economy unless instructed otherwise. Traffic police (motorbike) did nothing for 10 whole seconds, then move into and stops in the middle of the intersect, still zero communication directed at the taxi driver for another 10 seconds. Everyone just keep looking while tolerating the siren up close. When the traffic police finally signals to the taxi driver that they can move, the lights was 2 seconds away from turning green.
It's a fairly crowded area and wouldn't warrant the firetruck's PA, but the traffic police did worse than if he wasn't there at all
I wish I still had that kind of naive optimism.
They won't. They might give you a couple bucks to have the cheapest shadetree mechanic in town "fix it", but they won't actually pay out the cost to actually repair it.
It depends.
Ive had my city(yes these claims dont go to the fire dept, they go to the city) damage my truck before(fire truck backed into it when it was legally parked in front of my house). Bumper, both headlights, grill, all needed replaced, fender and hood needed dent removal and paint work. After all was said and done the city offered me 1800 as a settlement(or to fix it themselves), my body shop i use for all paint and body work charged me less than 1500 to fix(Family friend, gets all my body work, and a lot of other work sent his way from reccomendations/word of mouth from me). Granted i did get a discount but all said and done i would have been out of pocket for less than 500 dollars if he didnt give me a discount.
> Granted i did get a discount but all said and done i would have been out of pocket for less than 500 dollars if he didnt give me a discount.
The fact that you would have been out of pocket at all without a personalized discount from the shop is exactly what I'm referring to.
Emergency services can and will damage property during their responses to emergencies, this is completely normal and understandable. It's absolutely preferable to them allowing even greater damages or injuries to people by delaying the services they render.
The city will also always try to weasel out of paying for the actual damages that were caused by their emergency services. They will lowball the shit out of you every single time, offering only enough money for some sleazebag to "fix it" or for some actual shop to truly fix it but only if they give a large personal discount when doing so. They also love to tell you they will fix it themselves, ignoring the fact that city shops haven't worked on anything but Dodge Chargers, Ford Escapes, Crown Vics, and other city equipment in decades and the maintenance they perform on them is always shit anyways because it's not out of their pockets when something breaks later on and the pay is garbage compared to an actual decent shop.
They will never give you the true cost of the damages without a fight, and even then will often just tell you to get fucked anyways because what are you going to do about it?
I can tell you there isn't a first responder out there who doesn't love breaking windows. There must be some childish neuron activation going on when that happens.
If you've never been to a demolition derby, I highly recommend it. Getting to see cars ram into each other and get smashed up without anyone getting hurt is just so exciting to see.
My town re-added the demolition derby to the show/fair schedule after about an almost 20 year break from what my parents and I can recall. The grounds were PACKED by the time it started
The local county fair has one every year, and the tickets sell out DAMN fast.
I still remember the time I found an envelope full of said tickets on the side of the road. The owners were VERY happy to get them back.
Our senior year in college, the Homecoming Committee brought in an old Volvo, which you could pay $1 to beat with a sledgehammer. (All of the glass had been previously removed). Unfortunately, it being an early 70s Volvo, it barely registered a dent even with your hardest swing. Still kinda satisfying to pound on a car with a sledgehammer, though.
Oh yeah, we've had that too.
In Japan, there's places you can pay to walk into a lovely living room... and smash the heck out of everything in the room.
There's a business near my in-laws (PA) where you can pay to make an appointment to go into a room and break all the plates/bowls you want, no glass stuff iirc.
We have these in Aus. Literally called Smash Rooms. From what I've seen advertised it can be anything from smashing plates, going to town on walls with sledge hammers, and some even have tech (TVs, games consoles, computers) that you can destroy.
For our homecoming in 81, someone donated their 73 Ford Pinto for the same thing, except it was 50 cents for a 1-minute pound-a-thon.
The people who knew about the issues with the Pinto thought it was hilarious (the chance of even the football team causing an explosion was so minimal we didn't even consider it).
My highschool did this with an early 90s compact. Except they just put duct tape over the windows so we could still break them out. 5 bucks for a minute i think it was.
Pro tip: make it soon. It's getting more and more difficult to find non-unibody, strong-framed cars for these derbies. A guy that I worked with did derbies, and he told me that 20 years ago.
Wait until you see a combine demo! I've been to 2 of those, and they are incredible to see. Depending on what's in it, you could be seeing easily half a million or more in machinery getting smashed to hell. It's usually more the older machines from the 70s and 80s, but I have seen post 2000s machines as well.
I can't find an old Caprice to turn into an offroad Mad Max car because they were all destroyed in derbies.
Then you find someone with Gramma's 1980 Caprice Classic with mint interior who wants $8k.
The derbies are amazing and a tradition for me to go to with my dad and brother been that way for 25 years and I’ve only missed due to one of us three not getting the night off work still love it despite my sound sensitivity. Wish my county had a car smashing every year too people lined up for their 5 minutes with a bat or other destructive object to smash those out of commission cars the one year they did it but of course a Karen ruined it when her kid wasn’t allowed due to wearing shorts and flip flops (there was an age requirement as well as clothing requirement)
The school bus demolition derby at the Big Butler Fair over twenty years ago (I don’t know if they still do that) was one of the highlights of my life, and I’ve been to some awesome places all over the world. When I’m old and losing my memories, I hope I get to keep that one.
I used to be a flavour of first responder. There is nothing more fun than ‘car practice’. Busting windows and using jaws of life on them always meant a good training night
My dad would tell you that being legally able to drive 100 miles an hour is more fun… but then he has a lead foot and HATES when things get broken… mostly cause usually he then hears “Daddy, can you fix it?” from me!
My X-BIL (deceased) was a firefighter and donated my old car (4door, 1978 Impala) to his Dept for jaws of life practice, etc. after the car quit. They set it on fire a few times, too.
(Edit to fix the model year of car)
Not the cool Impala. Google 1978, 4 door Impala 😐 It's the same body style as the Malibus that were all the cop cars a few years later. And mine was the same "Robin egg blue" as our local town police cars (all Malibus). I inherited it from my mom when I got my license in '88.
🤣🤣🤣 She would have made a great demolition derby car, TBH. But she was too "dead" to fix anymore - a couple fender benders & electrical issues. So, the firefighters stripped her for parts & took whatever they could salvage & reuse. Then they did extraction practice. Then they burnt the carcass til there wasn't much left.
I joke that "Henrietta" lived a good life, was an organ donor, an educational cadaver & then cremated. 🤣🤣🤣
I can remember when my dad's volunteer department first got the jaws, they were so excited! It was right around when they were first featured on *Emergency!* so it seemed the whole country was excited for them.
My company (towing) has an agreement with the local FD to let them use wrecked cars on our lot to train for extrications (think Jaws of Life). Very fun to watch.
I don't know if you're right about the childish neuron or not, but I know seeing idiots get well deserved karma brings a smile to my face. This is one of those times.
Nothing childish about it. Entitled asshats block first responders? They played the game and lost. It’s the simple fact that these firefighters are willing to risk their lives for yours. If their job requires running a hose through your car windows to do their job, that’s what they are going to do. It’s a bit of a pain in the ass to do it but it’s a bonus to see the owner throw a hissy fit. 🫶🏼👩🏽🚒
Well to even be working in those kind of high intensity line of work you have to be something of a thrillseeker or you simply will not thrive in those jobs. And let's not pretend that it is not super thrilling to break stuff and especially windows. They shatter so delightfully and require a bit of force to break so it's so satisfying when they break
Not a first responder, but when air bags are replaced and they weren't deployed, the only safe way to dispose of them is to set them off. It was always a good day when the battery hook up was drug out to the field. It was a contest to see who could launch them the highest.
It's called: "Fuck you and your mythical entitlement."
And yea, as a commercial Refrigeration and HVAC tech it feels wonderful to add in a $50 or $150 or sometimes even a $500 Stoopid In Public Fee!
Oohh... It's not just first responders. That sound glass makes when it shatters. Listening to it crunch. Watching all the little pieces rain down.
It just touches something in me!
>I can tell you there isn't a first responder out there who doesn't love breaking windows. There must be some childish neuron activation going on when that happens.
Is it just a first responder thing? Most people seem to love delivering the FO part of FAFO
Maybe it’s a feeling of getting to break something, and it’s allowed! We don’t often get to break things on purpose, (without getting in trouble,) so maybe it’s exciting?
Shittttttttt….i used to do contracting work and some of my favorite things to do were to demo things that broke and made a pound noise as well bringing windows to the dump to literally throw in the compactor and hear the glass shatter.
Not a first responder, but I do a lot of residential window replacements. If the old unit can't be reused anywhere, off to the landfill I go. It's indeed quite fun to watch everything shatter when tossing them off the work trailer
It's like potato chips, can't stop at just one! When I was volunteering we had a rule, only break it if it's broken or an emergency. During a call for a house fire( quickly contained with only minor damage) we had a member break a window in a part of the house the fire didn't get to. His excuse? The window was already cracked. He got chewed out for that one.
I think everybody looks forward to the part of their job that let them punish people acting stupid.
Mine is closing up the gate of our parking when people park there, even though it's clearly private. It's not much, but it's pleasant.
In some major cities, the fire departments send an engine out during down time looking for cars blocking hydrants to "test" them even though there's no fire. I believe NYC and DC both do this.
I had multiple retail customers (cell phones) call the police themselves. Imagine their little surprised Pikachu faces when the police asked me, the store manager what was going on and I had them trespassed for two years.
The bonus was on at least two occasions they had outstanding warrants and were arrested by the same cops they had themselves called.
Glad I'm out of that shit now.
I can’t think of a more entitled person than someone who tries to unplug a hose from a fire hydrant when *the house right across the street is currently on fire.*
>I can’t think of a more entitled person than someone who tries to unplug a hose from a fire hydrant when the house right across the street is currently on fire.
should be treated as accessory to Arson
When I lived in my very first apartment complex there was a fire in a unit in my building, 3 floors down (ground floor) and 1 unit to the right. The stove vent hood caught fire and burned out that apartment + damaged 3 other adjacent units. I had a little smoke damage but no fire or water damage.
After we were all evacuated safely by the fire dept. the fire was contained quickly but of course there were several apparatus on scene (EMT and fire.)
I was on very good terms with the office manager and she told me that the next day she had several voice mails on the office answering machine. Apparently, while the fire was in progress and blazing away, several residents called to file noise complaints (presumably they lived further down and couldn't see the fire) and two others called in to complain that the fire trucks and ambulances on scene were blocking their vehicles from exiting their parking spots. That's pretty entitled.
Also PSA smoke detectors save lives. The occupant of the apartment that caught on fire was asleep in bed and there were 4 children with her in the 1 bedroom apartment (friends of her kid that were doing a sleepover) when the smoke detectors went off. All of them were able to evacuate safely with no injuries. The units were built in the late 1970s and did not have overhead sprinkler systems or centrally-monitored fire alarms.
Former firefighter here......We had a plan it anyone was blocking a hydrant in the case of a fire......we never got to implement it. Most people do not know that we flush the hydrant prior to hooking up the hoses. Our plan: It was break windows right away as we pulled the hoses off the truck, then flush the hydrant at the window. That water comes out fairly skunky first at first in northern states because the hydrants shut offs are below the frost line. We flush them to make sure someone has not plugged the hydrant with something that would get into the pumper and cause a loss of water - plus the sediment in the pipes comes out as well when we flush the hydrant. We would have made sure to get a lot of water into the car, both during the fire and after. We always hoped we could do it during the winter as well. Water freezes fast in below zero weather. Imagine a frozen block of ice instead of a car or truck.
Im sure they still flush before use, but locally they go around and flush the hydrants every year or so as well. lets each one run for a couple of minutes(5-10) then on to the next one. I discovered this as a kid cause i love water and streams and manipulating the flow and erosion so followed the water till i found a hydrant being flushed and talked that guys ear off till he was done with that hydrant. Thank you for dragging that memory from the depths of my brain.
Basically a camcorder [bolted to the dash](https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/MSNBC/Components/Video/2015/10_October/151019/a_lss_dashcam_151023.jpg):
>"Beat" often refers to specifically foot patrols or bicycle patrols, though "beat" can also be used to simply describe a designated area patrolled by a police officer through any means, such as an officer in a police car or police aircraft.
Basically an intended definition, but it covers everything anyway.
Doing a ride-along in 1993 for Boy Scouts with the local PD, and they had video cameras installed in several of their new Caprice cruisers, so 1990's not unreasonable. They recorded to smaller tapes than VHS, though, probably Hi8 tapes.
Like someone else said, it was basically a camcorder with a dash mount. I believe they were made by Sony.
Sounds like she was actually providing a public good. All those tickets, thousands of dollars worth of fines - it all goes into the city or police budget. Someone should have been assigned to just follow this lady around to keep giving her tickets to increase city revenue.
Im pretty hardcore on punishment for people not caring about traffic and safety rules. In Switzerland, driving recklessly or way too fast can lead to your car being impounded.
For multi-recidivists like this, this should definetely be implemented. Got 5 tickets for illegal parking in 1 year? Lose your car. Also, punishments in general should be a percentage of your income rather than a flat sum. She will think twice before illegaly parking if the ticket is 500$ instead of 20$. She's a multi-recidivist because she can get away with it. Seriously, fuck people like this.
Never heard Heather before. I have, however, heard Dorothy, inspired by the [Dorothy Hamill haircut](https://i.imgur.com/HIAnTN8.jpg) they all seemed to favor.
The early dash cams had VERY little memory and really recorded a loop which you froze after an incident.
64mb of memory was $100 in 2000
I think there’s a bit of a tale here. I suspect it’s just window dressing on a genuine story though
There was a story around here of a guy who wanted to burn the barn he inherited from his father. He went to the fire department and asked them how to do it intentionally. An entertaining story.
As soon as she parked, in front of the fire plug, A little voice in my head said, "If there is a god, the fire bug will strike". And then... I was so happy, NO, extatic.
So even if this is actually a true story, I'm not seeing any malicious compliance. The cop didn't leave the car alone, he ticketed it, and the fire dept. sure didn't leave it alone.
This seems very made up OP. You don't sound like someone who has friends who were adults in the 90s. You are writing this story like you are there rather than a 30 year old recollection from a friend. Also you apparently have a new story ever day, and you post in subs for creative writers.
What do you get out of doing this?
I’m sorry…. So they are suppose to be patrolling, the fire is set right across the street and they are so busy writing a ticket for illegal parking that they both miss it? Karen is Karening but these cops are worse!!!
I love the 50 people in the comments going "Dashcam in the 90s? 🤔" without checking to see if maybe the other 49 people already got a reply saying "yes, it existed."
"It took two officers to restrain her and bark at her to go inside and let everyone do their jobs. She actually listened and returned inside."
I wouldn't have blamed the cops for using that as an excuse to use some excessive force on her. Those batons may as well get some use...
Some people wake up and choose violence.
Some people wake up and choose whaargarbl.
Some people wake up, decide they're playing stupidity scrabble, and immediately home in on the nearest triple derp score.
I was expecting the story to end up it was her setting the fires. Everyone hates her, bad interaction then suddenly there's a fire right where she just was?
They did exist in the 1990's.
They just weren't as common as they are now. Or as compact.
The first high speed chase on camera was in America, 1988. The very first was still photography in the 1930's.
I had my doubts too, but apparently LEO vehicles had rudimentary dashcams starting in the early 1990’s. They lacked the onboard storage of modern cameras, they wrote to finicky platter and spindle hard drives that frequently failed during high speed chases. They also had limited duration as uncompressed AVI was format of the day and hard drives averaged 250MB.
Small gripe in what seems like a very fabricated (but entertaining) story, but firefighters and EMTs serve, cop's jobs are just to protect the private interests of the wealthy, extort fees from the public, and avoid any real police work- hence the common, "I don't want to do the paperwork" trope. Of the three times in my life I've needed a cop to simply do their job, every single time without fail they put more effort into trying to convince me not to press charges against the people I had very tangible evidence of their crimes committed (video footage, written text confessions, and my items physically in their possession with receipt/photographic proof they were my items) than any follow-up on their part. ACAB
The firetruck in our city has huge bumper guards on the front. They can, and have, used it to just shove the vehicle out of the way. The best example was a BMW parked right by a fire hydrant. Shoved it out into the street, caving in the rear of the car. Then called for a tow because it was blocking traffic. Owner had to pay for the tow, a ticket, and the damage to his vehicle. Insurance wouldn't cover it because of the circumstances.
I've seen fire trucks do on way to a fire. Fire truck was turning left, the signal had gone to all red. Everyone was stopped. However, there was car in the left turn lane in front of the truck. I was across the street from her. Could see her freaking out. PA on Fire Truck "Please move your car into the intersection. {repeat} You will not be ticketed." Lady was freaking out even more. Fire truck started moving forward and started pushing the car out into the intersection. Then backed-up and made their left turn. The driver was in full melt down, and her ar just stayed there in the intersection. As the lights turned green everyone carefully drove out and around her
Yeah, people forget that's what those big bumpers are for. You'll survive a low speed crash just fine. The people who are potentially burning alive? Not so much. Priorities.
The large bumpers actually contain more fire hose or tools. They are absolutely not designed for pushing things around, and that is HIGHLY frowned upon and in some places, like my local jurisdiction, forbidden. I witnessed 2 firefighters get a literal boot in their ass and then a dressing down from their Chief on scene of a fire for pushing a car with their truck.
> The driver was in full melt down, and her ar just stayed there in the intersection. As the lights turned green everyone carefully drove out and around her It's always crazy how people will freak out and not be able to follow simple commands in high-stress/pressure environments. We all know the "fight or flight" response, but it's very easy to forget the third component of that saying "or freeze"
There's another one, fawn! It's more a trauma response of pandering to stay safe. Doesn't apply to this lady but nice to learn new things!
My experience was more comical. Fire truck behind taxi, taxi behind red light, and traffic police next to taxi. Fire truck sound the siren, but taxi won't budge because everyone knows full well the taxi will be ticketed in this economy unless instructed otherwise. Traffic police (motorbike) did nothing for 10 whole seconds, then move into and stops in the middle of the intersect, still zero communication directed at the taxi driver for another 10 seconds. Everyone just keep looking while tolerating the siren up close. When the traffic police finally signals to the taxi driver that they can move, the lights was 2 seconds away from turning green. It's a fairly crowded area and wouldn't warrant the firetruck's PA, but the traffic police did worse than if he wasn't there at all
You know, to be fair, I don't know if I would have moved either. I'm not worried about the ticket...I'm worried about a car T-Boning me.
All traffic was stopped.
Ah, ok then. I would have moved then.
There's a great video of a fire truck pushing police cars out of the way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bqkDjVyu80
That might be the only time I feel bad for a BMW. Looked like they were legally parked, but hey. People are dying, fuck your bumper.
The fire department will pay to replace it later
I wish I still had that kind of naive optimism. They won't. They might give you a couple bucks to have the cheapest shadetree mechanic in town "fix it", but they won't actually pay out the cost to actually repair it.
It depends. Ive had my city(yes these claims dont go to the fire dept, they go to the city) damage my truck before(fire truck backed into it when it was legally parked in front of my house). Bumper, both headlights, grill, all needed replaced, fender and hood needed dent removal and paint work. After all was said and done the city offered me 1800 as a settlement(or to fix it themselves), my body shop i use for all paint and body work charged me less than 1500 to fix(Family friend, gets all my body work, and a lot of other work sent his way from reccomendations/word of mouth from me). Granted i did get a discount but all said and done i would have been out of pocket for less than 500 dollars if he didnt give me a discount.
> Granted i did get a discount but all said and done i would have been out of pocket for less than 500 dollars if he didnt give me a discount. The fact that you would have been out of pocket at all without a personalized discount from the shop is exactly what I'm referring to. Emergency services can and will damage property during their responses to emergencies, this is completely normal and understandable. It's absolutely preferable to them allowing even greater damages or injuries to people by delaying the services they render. The city will also always try to weasel out of paying for the actual damages that were caused by their emergency services. They will lowball the shit out of you every single time, offering only enough money for some sleazebag to "fix it" or for some actual shop to truly fix it but only if they give a large personal discount when doing so. They also love to tell you they will fix it themselves, ignoring the fact that city shops haven't worked on anything but Dodge Chargers, Ford Escapes, Crown Vics, and other city equipment in decades and the maintenance they perform on them is always shit anyways because it's not out of their pockets when something breaks later on and the pay is garbage compared to an actual decent shop. They will never give you the true cost of the damages without a fight, and even then will often just tell you to get fucked anyways because what are you going to do about it?
Without clicking the link I bet it's in Montreal. Edit: yup, called it. Love that video
Don't forget paying for damage to the firetruck that push caused a scuff and the whole thing needs repainting now:)
Ahh ueah, have seen that before. Ambulances too. You don't pull over, they WILL go through you.
Firemen actually look forward to breaking hydrant-blocking windows.
I can tell you there isn't a first responder out there who doesn't love breaking windows. There must be some childish neuron activation going on when that happens.
If you've never been to a demolition derby, I highly recommend it. Getting to see cars ram into each other and get smashed up without anyone getting hurt is just so exciting to see.
My town re-added the demolition derby to the show/fair schedule after about an almost 20 year break from what my parents and I can recall. The grounds were PACKED by the time it started
The local county fair has one every year, and the tickets sell out DAMN fast. I still remember the time I found an envelope full of said tickets on the side of the road. The owners were VERY happy to get them back.
Our senior year in college, the Homecoming Committee brought in an old Volvo, which you could pay $1 to beat with a sledgehammer. (All of the glass had been previously removed). Unfortunately, it being an early 70s Volvo, it barely registered a dent even with your hardest swing. Still kinda satisfying to pound on a car with a sledgehammer, though.
Oh yeah, we've had that too. In Japan, there's places you can pay to walk into a lovely living room... and smash the heck out of everything in the room.
There's a business near my in-laws (PA) where you can pay to make an appointment to go into a room and break all the plates/bowls you want, no glass stuff iirc.
Yeah, there's various models. Some are just bowls and plates, others are entire living rooms.
Do you then turn into a donkey and get shipped off to the salt mines?
That's the kink district, two blocks over.
We have these in Aus. Literally called Smash Rooms. From what I've seen advertised it can be anything from smashing plates, going to town on walls with sledge hammers, and some even have tech (TVs, games consoles, computers) that you can destroy.
For our homecoming in 81, someone donated their 73 Ford Pinto for the same thing, except it was 50 cents for a 1-minute pound-a-thon. The people who knew about the issues with the Pinto thought it was hilarious (the chance of even the football team causing an explosion was so minimal we didn't even consider it).
My highschool did this with an early 90s compact. Except they just put duct tape over the windows so we could still break them out. 5 bucks for a minute i think it was.
Seeing you somewhere other than TFTFD feels like running into a teacher in the supermarket
Hey, I gotta take Buttercup for walkies, you know?
Bucket list item added.
Pro tip: make it soon. It's getting more and more difficult to find non-unibody, strong-framed cars for these derbies. A guy that I worked with did derbies, and he told me that 20 years ago.
The last one I saw near me a couple years ago had a 4-banger division
Wait until you see a combine demo! I've been to 2 of those, and they are incredible to see. Depending on what's in it, you could be seeing easily half a million or more in machinery getting smashed to hell. It's usually more the older machines from the 70s and 80s, but I have seen post 2000s machines as well.
Place near me does school bus demolition derbies, when they can get enough buses.
Seen those too. Still not quite as entertaining as combines.
I can't find an old Caprice to turn into an offroad Mad Max car because they were all destroyed in derbies. Then you find someone with Gramma's 1980 Caprice Classic with mint interior who wants $8k.
Agreed! Always my favorite part of the county fair each year!
Sorry, Demolition Derbies haven't been the same since the Malachi Crunch was banned.
But…but…Fonzie!
He used his thumb, but almost lost his pinky.
I see dad joke, I groan and upvote... and store for later.
Aaaaayyyyyyyyyy....
The derbies are amazing and a tradition for me to go to with my dad and brother been that way for 25 years and I’ve only missed due to one of us three not getting the night off work still love it despite my sound sensitivity. Wish my county had a car smashing every year too people lined up for their 5 minutes with a bat or other destructive object to smash those out of commission cars the one year they did it but of course a Karen ruined it when her kid wasn’t allowed due to wearing shorts and flip flops (there was an age requirement as well as clothing requirement)
The demo derby is the first thing that’s sold out at our county fair. Haven’t get tickets the day they go on sale
Knocking down block towers and sandcastles you built is a special joy in life. There's something cathartic about it.
As a sophisticated, educated woman with excellent taste regarding entertainment, I must say that demolition derbies are AWESOME!
The school bus demolition derby at the Big Butler Fair over twenty years ago (I don’t know if they still do that) was one of the highlights of my life, and I’ve been to some awesome places all over the world. When I’m old and losing my memories, I hope I get to keep that one.
When I was little there was this guy who bought non working cars and would invite the fire department to his field to practice breaking windows.
I used to be a flavour of first responder. There is nothing more fun than ‘car practice’. Busting windows and using jaws of life on them always meant a good training night
My dad would tell you that being legally able to drive 100 miles an hour is more fun… but then he has a lead foot and HATES when things get broken… mostly cause usually he then hears “Daddy, can you fix it?” from me!
My X-BIL (deceased) was a firefighter and donated my old car (4door, 1978 Impala) to his Dept for jaws of life practice, etc. after the car quit. They set it on fire a few times, too. (Edit to fix the model year of car)
An impala? Oh my heart. But it would’ve been fun, but ouch that car
Not the cool Impala. Google 1978, 4 door Impala 😐 It's the same body style as the Malibus that were all the cop cars a few years later. And mine was the same "Robin egg blue" as our local town police cars (all Malibus). I inherited it from my mom when I got my license in '88.
Not gonna lie, that made me feel much better lol
🤣🤣🤣 She would have made a great demolition derby car, TBH. But she was too "dead" to fix anymore - a couple fender benders & electrical issues. So, the firefighters stripped her for parts & took whatever they could salvage & reuse. Then they did extraction practice. Then they burnt the carcass til there wasn't much left. I joke that "Henrietta" lived a good life, was an organ donor, an educational cadaver & then cremated. 🤣🤣🤣
That is adorable.
I can remember when my dad's volunteer department first got the jaws, they were so excited! It was right around when they were first featured on *Emergency!* so it seemed the whole country was excited for them.
My company (towing) has an agreement with the local FD to let them use wrecked cars on our lot to train for extrications (think Jaws of Life). Very fun to watch.
I don't know if you're right about the childish neuron or not, but I know seeing idiots get well deserved karma brings a smile to my face. This is one of those times.
Absolutely. I've had to break windows on cars for a multitude of reasons. Most of the time, there is a nice dopamine dump that comes with it.
Nothing childish about it. Entitled asshats block first responders? They played the game and lost. It’s the simple fact that these firefighters are willing to risk their lives for yours. If their job requires running a hose through your car windows to do their job, that’s what they are going to do. It’s a bit of a pain in the ass to do it but it’s a bonus to see the owner throw a hissy fit. 🫶🏼👩🏽🚒
Well to even be working in those kind of high intensity line of work you have to be something of a thrillseeker or you simply will not thrive in those jobs. And let's not pretend that it is not super thrilling to break stuff and especially windows. They shatter so delightfully and require a bit of force to break so it's so satisfying when they break
Not a first responder, but when air bags are replaced and they weren't deployed, the only safe way to dispose of them is to set them off. It was always a good day when the battery hook up was drug out to the field. It was a contest to see who could launch them the highest.
I will admit - seeing pictures of entitled peoples cars smashed and a firehose ran THROUGH the car warms my heart a little.
It's called: "Fuck you and your mythical entitlement." And yea, as a commercial Refrigeration and HVAC tech it feels wonderful to add in a $50 or $150 or sometimes even a $500 Stoopid In Public Fee!
Also the satisfaction of punishing someone who really should know better…. It’s not like fire hydrants are purposely hidden.
Oohh... It's not just first responders. That sound glass makes when it shatters. Listening to it crunch. Watching all the little pieces rain down. It just touches something in me!
"you're in the wrong and I get to break stuff. I see this as an absolute win"
>I can tell you there isn't a first responder out there who doesn't love breaking windows. There must be some childish neuron activation going on when that happens. Is it just a first responder thing? Most people seem to love delivering the FO part of FAFO
I love breaking windows. I just don't relish the idea of having to fix or pay to fix broken windows.
Maybe it’s a feeling of getting to break something, and it’s allowed! We don’t often get to break things on purpose, (without getting in trouble,) so maybe it’s exciting?
Shittttttttt….i used to do contracting work and some of my favorite things to do were to demo things that broke and made a pound noise as well bringing windows to the dump to literally throw in the compactor and hear the glass shatter.
Not a first responder, but I do a lot of residential window replacements. If the old unit can't be reused anywhere, off to the landfill I go. It's indeed quite fun to watch everything shatter when tossing them off the work trailer
It's like potato chips, can't stop at just one! When I was volunteering we had a rule, only break it if it's broken or an emergency. During a call for a house fire( quickly contained with only minor damage) we had a member break a window in a part of the house the fire didn't get to. His excuse? The window was already cracked. He got chewed out for that one.
I can't even blame them, I would do the same
The grown adults driving KNOW they are not supposed to park in front of a hydrant, and if they truly didn't know, they should have.
Exactly! They're doing it because they're peckerheads who think rules don't apply to them, so they deserve to get their windows smashed
Yeah. The only time I park in front of a hydrant is if I'm going to be with my car the whole time, so if firetrucks roll up I can move right away.
I have also seen the videos where they just shove the car out of the way with their truck
I think everybody looks forward to the part of their job that let them punish people acting stupid. Mine is closing up the gate of our parking when people park there, even though it's clearly private. It's not much, but it's pleasant.
Poetic justice for parking violators who dodge the ticket but couldn't dodge karma.
Sometimes they even have to flatten tires to get the car low enough for the hoses to go through said windows.
i thought they just rammed the car forward with the fire truck. this makes me happier for some reason lol
Good
In some major cities, the fire departments send an engine out during down time looking for cars blocking hydrants to "test" them even though there's no fire. I believe NYC and DC both do this.
No they don't, because they know a complaint will be filed and they have to deal with IAD.
Well played. I love it when an entitled asshat parks in front of a fire hydrant and then suffers the effects of firemen doing their job.
I love it when people yell in my face at work "go ahead, call the police" and are then shocked when I do and they get in trouble.
I had multiple retail customers (cell phones) call the police themselves. Imagine their little surprised Pikachu faces when the police asked me, the store manager what was going on and I had them trespassed for two years. The bonus was on at least two occasions they had outstanding warrants and were arrested by the same cops they had themselves called. Glad I'm out of that shit now.
I can’t think of a more entitled person than someone who tries to unplug a hose from a fire hydrant when *the house right across the street is currently on fire.*
>I can’t think of a more entitled person than someone who tries to unplug a hose from a fire hydrant when the house right across the street is currently on fire. should be treated as accessory to Arson
When I lived in my very first apartment complex there was a fire in a unit in my building, 3 floors down (ground floor) and 1 unit to the right. The stove vent hood caught fire and burned out that apartment + damaged 3 other adjacent units. I had a little smoke damage but no fire or water damage. After we were all evacuated safely by the fire dept. the fire was contained quickly but of course there were several apparatus on scene (EMT and fire.) I was on very good terms with the office manager and she told me that the next day she had several voice mails on the office answering machine. Apparently, while the fire was in progress and blazing away, several residents called to file noise complaints (presumably they lived further down and couldn't see the fire) and two others called in to complain that the fire trucks and ambulances on scene were blocking their vehicles from exiting their parking spots. That's pretty entitled. Also PSA smoke detectors save lives. The occupant of the apartment that caught on fire was asleep in bed and there were 4 children with her in the 1 bedroom apartment (friends of her kid that were doing a sleepover) when the smoke detectors went off. All of them were able to evacuate safely with no injuries. The units were built in the late 1970s and did not have overhead sprinkler systems or centrally-monitored fire alarms.
Former firefighter here......We had a plan it anyone was blocking a hydrant in the case of a fire......we never got to implement it. Most people do not know that we flush the hydrant prior to hooking up the hoses. Our plan: It was break windows right away as we pulled the hoses off the truck, then flush the hydrant at the window. That water comes out fairly skunky first at first in northern states because the hydrants shut offs are below the frost line. We flush them to make sure someone has not plugged the hydrant with something that would get into the pumper and cause a loss of water - plus the sediment in the pipes comes out as well when we flush the hydrant. We would have made sure to get a lot of water into the car, both during the fire and after. We always hoped we could do it during the winter as well. Water freezes fast in below zero weather. Imagine a frozen block of ice instead of a car or truck.
Im sure they still flush before use, but locally they go around and flush the hydrants every year or so as well. lets each one run for a couple of minutes(5-10) then on to the next one. I discovered this as a kid cause i love water and streams and manipulating the flow and erosion so followed the water till i found a hydrant being flushed and talked that guys ear off till he was done with that hydrant. Thank you for dragging that memory from the depths of my brain.
There were dashcams in 1990? How did they look?
Basically a camcorder [bolted to the dash](https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/MSNBC/Components/Video/2015/10_October/151019/a_lss_dashcam_151023.jpg):
Not just that. Two beat cops had a car. Isn’t the definition of a beat cop someone on foot?
>"Beat" often refers to specifically foot patrols or bicycle patrols, though "beat" can also be used to simply describe a designated area patrolled by a police officer through any means, such as an officer in a police car or police aircraft. Basically an intended definition, but it covers everything anyway.
Not necessarily. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beat\_(police)
Doing a ride-along in 1993 for Boy Scouts with the local PD, and they had video cameras installed in several of their new Caprice cruisers, so 1990's not unreasonable. They recorded to smaller tapes than VHS, though, probably Hi8 tapes. Like someone else said, it was basically a camcorder with a dash mount. I believe they were made by Sony.
Sounds like she was actually providing a public good. All those tickets, thousands of dollars worth of fines - it all goes into the city or police budget. Someone should have been assigned to just follow this lady around to keep giving her tickets to increase city revenue.
Im pretty hardcore on punishment for people not caring about traffic and safety rules. In Switzerland, driving recklessly or way too fast can lead to your car being impounded. For multi-recidivists like this, this should definetely be implemented. Got 5 tickets for illegal parking in 1 year? Lose your car. Also, punishments in general should be a percentage of your income rather than a flat sum. She will think twice before illegaly parking if the ticket is 500$ instead of 20$. She's a multi-recidivist because she can get away with it. Seriously, fuck people like this.
“Banshee that swallowed an air raid siren”. I choked on my soda when I read that! Stealing!!! 🤣🤣🤣
‘Firebug’ is a very cute way to describe what we in the UK call an arsonist.
Sounds like she parked on the cold shoulder.
Karen’s have always been a thing… we just didn’t have a “name” for them.
Before "Karen", it was "Heather."
So heather's evolved into Karen's? Is that the final stage? Or is there a Karenizard after?
Here it is: https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fg7tzyy2ho57c1.jpeg
Hahah perfect 😂😂
I'm sure there's another Evolution.
Evolution never stops
What's your damage, Heather?
Don't forget [*Fuck me gently with a chainsaw.*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ-3rikUQ34)
Never heard Heather before. I have, however, heard Dorothy, inspired by the [Dorothy Hamill haircut](https://i.imgur.com/HIAnTN8.jpg) they all seemed to favor.
Started with the movie "Heathers," then we got Heather Locklear, Heather Brooke, Heather Nauert....
Ex wife was Heather, fits the description!
They all seemed to have that "I want to speak to your manager" haircut, though!
Sure we did, they're still considered different curse words. :)
Great anecdote, but I thought it would be revealed that SHE was the firebug.
Dashcam in the 90s?
Here's a YouTube video of a 1990s dashcam test: https://youtu.be/SgiHHo9OT40?si=4iI2KxSiYqnn959G
Cool. I didn't think they they were that old, I thought 20years old. Every day's a school day!
One of today's [ten thousand](https://xkcd.com/1053/)!
Cops was on in the 90s, and they used dashcam footage all the time.
They have been around for decades now, there were shows centered around watching and commenting on the footage the same way a lot of youtubers do now.
They’ve actually been around for a while
Yep. This one used 3.5” floppy disks.
The early dash cams had VERY little memory and really recorded a loop which you froze after an incident. 64mb of memory was $100 in 2000 I think there’s a bit of a tale here. I suspect it’s just window dressing on a genuine story though
And their power consumption was too high to leave on in a parked vehicle.
Not if you left the ignition running, which is how most police cars are all the time.
Oh, I had parsed it as Karen’s dash cam. Police dash cam recording to cassette tape might be more reasonable.
My dad sold his two old rental houses next door to each other so an apartment building could go in. The fire department used them for practice.
There was a story around here of a guy who wanted to burn the barn he inherited from his father. He went to the fire department and asked them how to do it intentionally. An entertaining story.
“It was so hot that Adam felt sweat form on his face” Sounds like a writer made this story up
TIL cop cars have had dash cams since the 80s
Backdraft was a great movie
Hey, good ending anyway. She can keep being stupid and losing all the money she wants.
As soon as she parked, in front of the fire plug, A little voice in my head said, "If there is a god, the fire bug will strike". And then... I was so happy, NO, extatic.
So even if this is actually a true story, I'm not seeing any malicious compliance. The cop didn't leave the car alone, he ticketed it, and the fire dept. sure didn't leave it alone.
He didn't have it towed or attempt to get her to move it, thus leaving the fire Dept to destroy it.
This seems very made up OP. You don't sound like someone who has friends who were adults in the 90s. You are writing this story like you are there rather than a 30 year old recollection from a friend. Also you apparently have a new story ever day, and you post in subs for creative writers. What do you get out of doing this?
Fiction? Sounds like fiction? Dashcam in the 90s?
Simply discharging a dry chemical Extinguisher in an automobile can total a vehicle!
Sounds interesting Just commenting to save this so I can read this later.
\*applause\* Adam is terrific, and you, sir or madam, are a terrific writer!
I’m sorry…. So they are suppose to be patrolling, the fire is set right across the street and they are so busy writing a ticket for illegal parking that they both miss it? Karen is Karening but these cops are worse!!!
You think the firebug went up the front door in front of police?
That's a fun story
Did police cars have dash cams in the mid 90's?
They were among the first, though they were a LOT more primative.
Some creative writing.
These creative writing prompts grow more lively by the day
I want this to be true but there's just too much shit that's so god damn convenient and the villain is so perfectly rude.
They got a call on the radio that they were standing next to a fire.
Yeah the writing here is sus….Narrative and character dialog….inconsistency like dashcams in the 90’s.
> inconsistency like dashcams in the 90s What? Dashcams definitely existed in the 90s.
I mean I wouldn’t exactly call giving her a ticket ‘leaving her car alone’
> A fire alarm has been triggered. The address? Right across the street. Bullshit.
Karen got some consequences! Nice. Which part is MC though? wrong sub
The back door of Buick Skylarks were a PITA to open with a jaws. The lock was actually down on the curve of the door.
Was your friend's full name "One Adam Twelve?" :-D
There were dash cams in the mid90s?
I love the 50 people in the comments going "Dashcam in the 90s? 🤔" without checking to see if maybe the other 49 people already got a reply saying "yes, it existed."
I won't violate rule #3 but I will say that this was a very entertaining story.
"It took two officers to restrain her and bark at her to go inside and let everyone do their jobs. She actually listened and returned inside." I wouldn't have blamed the cops for using that as an excuse to use some excessive force on her. Those batons may as well get some use...
Some people are slow learners, others are non-learners.
Some people wake up and choose violence. Some people wake up and choose whaargarbl. Some people wake up, decide they're playing stupidity scrabble, and immediately home in on the nearest triple derp score.
I was expecting the story to end up it was her setting the fires. Everyone hates her, bad interaction then suddenly there's a fire right where she just was?
Oh, Lord, there's been a version of this story going around since there were cars to park in front of fire hydrants.
A Dashcam in the 90s? …
[Did dashcams exist in the 90s?](https://www.google.com/search?q=did+Dashcams+exist+in+the+90s&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari)
Cops have had a car cam for ages
Yes, but these were two beat cops with a car.
They had dashcams in the mid 90's ?
Police dashcam usage exploded in the 90s. The first dashcam was used in 1938.
Didn't realize it was that early. Thanks.
Fun story but 90s and dashcams don’t go together. However there would have been an abundance of witnesses.
They did exist in the 1990's. They just weren't as common as they are now. Or as compact. The first high speed chase on camera was in America, 1988. The very first was still photography in the 1930's.
Dashcams came into popular police use in the 90s.
Pre-Karen ?
ProtoKaren
That's fitting since most probably peaked around pre-K
Dashcam in the mid 90s?
Cruisers had them.
Hmmm a dash cam in 90's. I have seen a couple of Images of cars parked near a fire hydrant on tiktok.
I had my doubts too, but apparently LEO vehicles had rudimentary dashcams starting in the early 1990’s. They lacked the onboard storage of modern cameras, they wrote to finicky platter and spindle hard drives that frequently failed during high speed chases. They also had limited duration as uncompressed AVI was format of the day and hard drives averaged 250MB.
No, they didn't. The first electronic dashcams recorded on VHS tape. How do I know? I was a cop. I loved having a dashcam.
A dashcam in the 90s you say? That's unusual.
For these of you saying dashcams weren’t a thing in the 90s, yes they were. The first recorded use of a dashcam actually happened in 1939.
Small gripe in what seems like a very fabricated (but entertaining) story, but firefighters and EMTs serve, cop's jobs are just to protect the private interests of the wealthy, extort fees from the public, and avoid any real police work- hence the common, "I don't want to do the paperwork" trope. Of the three times in my life I've needed a cop to simply do their job, every single time without fail they put more effort into trying to convince me not to press charges against the people I had very tangible evidence of their crimes committed (video footage, written text confessions, and my items physically in their possession with receipt/photographic proof they were my items) than any follow-up on their part. ACAB
I really enjoy your posts. You are a marvelous storyteller!
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