The " stupid motorist law " is a law in the U.S. state of Arizona that states that any motorist who becomes stranded after driving around barricades to enter a flooded stretch of roadway may be charged for the cost of their rescue. The law corresponds to section 28-910 of the Arizona Revised Statutes .
31-477: If public emergency services (such as a fire department or paramedics ) are called to rescue a flooded motorist and tow the vehicle out of danger in Arizona, the cost of those services can be billed to the motorist, plus additional liability of up to $ 2,000. Motorists are only liable if water already covers the road, barriers are in place but bypassed, and people are rescued from a vehicle. The 'stupid-motorist law'
62-711: A fire company, fire authority , fire district , fire and rescue , or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression services as well as other rescue services. Fire departments are most commonly a public sector organization that operate within a municipality, county, state, nation, or special district. Private and specialist firefighting organizations also exist, such as those for aircraft rescue and firefighting . A fire department contains one or more fire stations within its boundaries, and may be staffed by firefighters , who may be professional , volunteers , conscripts , or on-call . Combination fire departments employ
93-610: A civil service to the public, obliging private fire companies to shut down, many merging their fire stations into the city's fire department. In 1833, London's ten independent brigades all merged to form the London Fire Engine Establishment (LFEE), with James Braidwood as the Chief Officer. Braidwood had previously been the fire chief in Edinburgh , where the world's first municipal fire service
124-408: A durable plaque that would be affixed to the building exterior. Although a popular legend says a company's fire brigade would not extinguish a burning building if it did not have the correct fire mark, there is little evidence to support this; evidence shows insurance companies required their firefighters to fight every fire they encountered. Amsterdam also had a sophisticated firefighting system in
155-585: A fire department varies greatly by country. In the United States, firefighting is usually organized on a municipal level. Some municipalities belong to "fire protection districts" that are served by the same fire department, such as the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District . Austria, Germany and Canada also organize fire services at a municipal level. In France , fire services mostly cover one department . In
186-437: A mix of professional and volunteer firefighters. In some countries, fire departments may also run an ambulance service , staffed by volunteer or professional EMS personnel . Fire departments are organized in a system of administration, services, training, and operations; for example: A fire service is normally set up where it can have fire stations, fire engines and other relevant equipment strategically deployed throughout
217-420: A vehicle who drives the vehicle on a public street or highway that is temporarily covered by a rise in water level, including groundwater or overflow of water, and that is barricaded because of flooding, is liable for the expenses of any emergency response that is required to remove from the public street or highway the driver or any passenger in the vehicle that becomes inoperable on the public street or highway or
248-590: Is located in whole or in part in this state and that provides police, fire fighting, medical or other emergency services. 3. "Reasonable costs" includes the costs of providing police, fire fighting, rescue and emergency medical services at the scene of an incident and the salaries of the persons who respond to the incident but does not include charges assessed by an ambulance service that is regulated pursuant to title 36, chapter 21.1, article 2. Fire department A fire department ( North American English ) or fire brigade ( Commonwealth English ), also known as
279-488: Is not a chargeable statute; to be fined under the law, a motorist must commit at least one other violation. Although the statute was enacted in 1995, only a handful of incidents had been prosecuted under ARS 28-910 as of 2015. The need for the law came from the lack of storm sewers in the deserts of the Southwestern United States , combined with heavy rainfall in the desert, usually associated with
310-662: The American Revolution (1775–1783) have had a large influence on Canadian English from its early roots. Some terms in North American English are used almost exclusively in Canada and the United States (for example, the terms diaper and gasoline are widely used instead of nappy and petrol ). Although many English speakers from outside North America regard those terms as distinct Americanisms , they are just as common in Canada, mainly due to
341-476: The Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency , which is today Canada's oldest fire department. In 1764, Haddonfield, New Jersey established the second oldest fire company in the United States. Another early American fire department, staffed by unpaid volunteers, was established in the city of Petersburg, Virginia in 1773. In the 19th century, cities began to form their own fire departments as
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#1732772313665372-642: The United States and Canada . In North America, different English dialects of immigrants from England , Scotland , Ireland , and other regions of the British Isles mixed together in the 17th and 18th centuries. These were developed, built upon, and blended together as new waves of immigration, and migration across the North American continent, developed new dialects in new areas, and as these ways of speaking merged with and assimilated to
403-516: The 17th century after the Great Fire of London in 1666. The first insurance brigades were established the following year. Others began to realize that a lot of money could be made from this practice, and ten more insurance companies set up in London before 1832: The Alliance, Atlas, Globe, Imperial, London, Protector, Royal Exchange, Sun Union and Westminster. Each company had its own fire mark ,
434-839: The United Kingdom, most fire services cover one or more counties , while Scotland and Northern Ireland each have a single fire service. In Australia, state governments run the fire services, although three states have separate agencies for metropolitan and rural areas. Poland, the Czech Republic, Israel, Italy, New Zealand, and the Philippines have national fire and rescue services. Fire departments may also provide other, more specialized emergency services, such as aircraft rescue and firefighting , hazardous materials response, technical rescue , search and rescue , and wildland firefighting . In some countries or regions (e.g.,
465-496: The United States, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau), fire departments can be responsible for providing emergency medical services . The EMS personnel may either be cross-trained as firefighters or a separate division of emergency medical technicians and paramedics . While some services act only as "first responders" to medical emergencies, stabilizing victims until an ambulance can arrive, other fire services also operate ambulance services . The earliest known firefighting service
496-503: The area it serves, so that dispatchers can send fire engines, fire trucks, or ambulances from the fire stations closest to the incident. Larger departments have branches within themselves to increase efficiency, composed of volunteers, support, and research. Most places are covered by a public sector fire department, which is established by a local or national government and funded by taxation. Even volunteer fire departments may still receive some government funding. The typical size of
527-425: The area or the vehicle that becomes inoperable in the area, or both. C. The expenses of an emergency response are a charge against the person liable for those expenses pursuant to subsection A or B of this section. The charge constitutes a debt of that person and may be collected proportionately by the public agencies, for-profit entities or not-for-profit entities that incurred the expenses. The person's liability for
558-412: The bottom of most passenger cars, which can cause loss of control and possible stalling. Most passenger cars will float in just 12 inches (30 cm) of water, and 24 inches (61 cm) of water will sweep most vehicles (including SUVs and pick-ups) away. In late July 2013, a tour bus carrying 33 people was swept up while traveling down a flooded road. The bus was carried 300 yards (270 m) before it
589-718: The colonies' first fire insurance company in Philadelphia named the Philadelphia Contributionship, as well as its associated Union Volunteer Fire Company , which was an unpaid (volunteer) company. A document dated in 1686 informs about the payment system of four so called "fire servants" (German: Feuerknecht ) in Vienna , which is the official founding year of the Vienna Fire Department. In 1754, Halifax, Nova Scotia established
620-517: The effects of heavy cross-border trade and cultural penetration by the American mass media. The list of divergent words becomes longer if considering regional Canadian dialects, especially as spoken in the Atlantic provinces and parts of Vancouver Island where significant pockets of British culture still remain. There are a considerable number of different accents within the regions of both
651-723: The expenses of an emergency response shall not exceed two thousand dollars for a single incident. The liability imposed under this section is in addition to and not in limitation of any other liability that may be imposed. D. An insurance policy may exclude coverage for a person's liability for expenses of an emergency response under this section. E. For the purposes of this section: 1. "Expenses of an emergency response" means reasonable costs directly incurred by public agencies, for-profit entities or not-for-profit entities that make an appropriate emergency response to an incident. 2. "Public agency" means this state and any city, county, municipal corporation, district or other public authority that
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#1732772313665682-453: The first modern fire engine one year earlier. North American English North American English is the most generalized variety of the English language as spoken in the United States and Canada . Because of their related histories and cultures, plus the similarities between the pronunciations (accents), vocabulary, and grammar of American English and Canadian English ,
713-522: The greater American dialect mixture that solidified by the mid-18th century. Below, several major North American English accents are defined by particular characteristics: A majority of North American English (for example, in contrast to British English) includes phonological features that concern consonants, such as rhoticity (full pronunciation of all /r/ sounds), conditioned T-glottalization (with satin pronounced [ˈsæʔn̩] , not [ˈsætn̩] ), T- and D-flapping (with metal and medal pronounced
744-551: The late 17th century, under the direction of artist Jan van der Heyden , who had improved the designs of both fire hoses and fire pumps. The city of Boston, Massachusetts established America's first publicly funded, paid fire department in 1678. Fire insurance made its debut in the American colonies in South Carolina in 1736, but it was Benjamin Franklin who imported the London model of insurance. He established
775-454: The same, as [ˈmɛɾɫ̩] ), L-velarization (with filling pronounced [ˈfɪɫɪŋ] , not [ˈfɪlɪŋ] ), as well as features that concern vowel sounds, such as various vowel mergers before /r/ (so that, Mary , marry , and merry are all commonly pronounced the same ), raising of pre-voiceless /aɪ/ (with price and bright using a higher vowel sound than prize and bride ), the weak vowel merger (with affected and effected often pronounced
806-419: The summer monsoon . These conditions can lead to flash floods in Arizona, which can unleash powerful torrents of water containing debris ranging in size from sand to boulders. The floods often resemble a concrete slurry due to their low water content; flows may contain as little as 20% water, while still moving at over 20 miles per hour (32 km/h). Only six inches (15 cm) of water is required to reach
837-565: The two spoken varieties are often grouped together under a single category. Canadians are generally tolerant of both British and American spellings, with British spellings of certain words (e.g., colour ) preferred in more formal settings and in Canadian print media; for some other words the American spelling prevails over the British (e.g., tire rather than tyre ). Dialects of American English spoken by United Empire Loyalists who fled
868-427: The vehicle that becomes inoperable on the public street or highway, or both. B. A person convicted of violating section 28-693 for driving a vehicle into any area that is temporarily covered by a rise in water level, including groundwater or overflow of water, may be liable for expenses of any emergency response that is required to remove from the area the driver or any passenger in the vehicle that becomes inoperable in
899-621: Was formed in Ancient Rome by Marcus Egnatius Rufus who used his slaves to provide a free fire service. These men fought fires using bucket chains and also patrolled the streets with the authority to impose corporal punishment upon those who violated fire-prevention codes. The Emperor Augustus established a public fire department in 24 BCE, composed of 600 slaves distributed amongst seven fire stations in Rome. Fire departments were again formed by property insurance companies beginning in
930-592: Was founded in 1824, and he is now regarded, along with Van der Heyden, as one of founders of modern firefighting. The LFEE then was incorporated into the city's Metropolitan Fire Brigade in 1865 under Eyre Massey Shaw . In 1879, the University of Notre Dame established the first University-based fire department in the United States. The first motorized fire department was organized in 1906 in Springfield, Massachusetts , where Knox Automobile had developed
961-453: Was tipped on to its side. Occupants of the bus were able to escape to safety before rescue teams arrived. Because the area was under a flash flood warning at the time, the driver of the bus potentially faced charges under the stupid motorist law. This incident took place in northwestern Arizona in the small community of Dolan Springs . The law reads exactly: 28-910. Liability for emergency responses in flood areas; definitions A. A driver of