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We're new to the Lexington area, been here about 6 weeks. Nice city, relatively pleasant. Does not seem to be much crime or violence...and we've not yet witnessed any smoke from house fires or anything.
So...what the heck is the deal with the fire engines, ambulances, police cars, or whatever, flying all over town with their sirens cranking away? We live in the Hamburg area, and hear no less than 2 sirens blasting away each day, and often 5 or 6. As a matter of fact, recently while on foot, we saw one of the fire dept.'s Suburbans flying down the road, siren blaring away, and the driver waved to another oncoming fire dept. vehicle. Waved casually it seemed. Sure didn't look like an emergency. (???) Are the firemen and cops just getting people out of their way so they can get back to the station faster or something. Are they doing it for fun? There's no way there are several house fires a day here. We come from a much larger and dare I say more violent metro than Lexington, and yet sirens there were rare.
This is so bizarre. Natives of Lexington must have noticed this. What's going on with the daily flurry of sirens?
maybe some daily exercises? not sure, but i live in the Woodhill area just off of both New Circle and Richmond Rd so we can hear the same from this location. i guess unless you can see, or are listening to officer Don on the radio you can't know for sure until it's on the news later that day.
I would hope they aren't taking advantage of the sirens/authority but who knows.
No, the police and the fire dept do not utilize their sirens unless they are going to a call. Not only do the fire dept respond to "house fires", but many other types of calls. Fire alarms go off many times falsely in other types of places. They also respond to a call when EMS is activated and accompany them on calls. That is a regular and I'm sure several times a day occurance. We are so very fortunate for a city our size to have the emergency responders that we have. As a nurse who has done and been involved with home health for many years, they are always "johnny on the spot" and that's a great feeling as a resident.
I know a lot of ambulances will use I-75 to the Man O War exit if they are heading to St Joe east...it seems like I always see ambulances in Lexington. Today we had to pull over for no less than three on a short shopping trip down Nicholasville Rd.
Lexington is the regional medical hub. Ambulances come from a very, very large area to the Lexington hospitals. Once they get into town, they use their sirens if they need to, to get through the red lights to the hospitals.
Nicholasville Road has the most hospitals, so has the potential for most ambulances. I for one am very grateful for the service.
ETA: I do agree that it seems extra siren-y in Lexington, and the above are the reasons I have thought of, over the years, to account for this.
I also think it has to do with the way layout of Lexington streets - all traffic is routed through a few main "spokes" of the wheel to get around the city, including emergency vehicles. Since we're all sharing these roads, it is more likely that we will see them.
BTW, timeless, I don't anyone minds the ambulances or thinks they are an unnecessary inconvenience - just a lot more apparent than in some other places.
Most ambulances coming into Lexington from eastern and southeastern Kentucky by way of I-64, the Mountain Parkway and I-75 will use exit 109 and Man o' War Blvd. to get to UK Med Center,Central Baptist and The St Joesph's hospitals. The rest will use exit 110 and Winchester Rd. to get to The Samaritan and UK hospitals. Those coming from the north by way of I-75 and I-64 will use Newtown Pike or Paris Pike to get to downtown and the hospitals.
Other emergency runs in the Lexington area will dispatch an EC unit and an engine company to all medical calls, as all firefighters are EMT qualified. There are 9 EC units and 22 engine companies in Lexington, and the EC units are rarely idle. That coupled with the out-of-town units means that there are a lot of sirens here.
I agree. We relocated hear last fall from Pittsburgh and are presently located in a temp housing complex just adjacent to Fire Station #21. I could not believe how many times per day they went out. At first I found it really annoying and then just got used to it. We will be moving next week to a permanent house off of Richmond Road and I was just thinking that I will miss my 8:30am wake up call/ They are considerate enough not to put the sirens on till after 8:00. I had someone tell me though that the reason for them going out is they are first responders and go out for everything. Asthma attacts...potential heart attacks and so on. Wow no wonder the taxes are higher in Fayette county compared to other surrounding counties. Cant imagine how much gas it takes for one of those big fire trucks to travel even 10 miles round trip.
What you're hearing are the sounds of nature! Welcome to the city. I lived in Lexington for 11 years after growing up in a town with no traffic lights and three police officers so it was a shock to the system for me too, but you get used to it. Most of the sirens are police cars running stop lights for no real reason, ambulances hauling around old people with chest pains and broken hips, and fire trucks heading into one of the many subdivisions to put out a grease fire in someone's kitchen.
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Thanks!
