{"id":134677,"date":"2026-03-10T18:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T18:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/134677\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T18:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T18:19:08","slug":"emergency-responders-in-pennsylvania-seek-more-flexibility-for-off-road-vehicles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/134677\/","title":{"rendered":"Emergency responders in Pennsylvania seek more flexibility for off-road vehicles"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a three-mile hike carrying a 275-pound hunter with a broken ankle across rugged terrain, Blain Volunteer Fire Company Chief Nick Campbell and his team decided it was time to purchase an off-road vehicle.<\/p>\n

Covering 130 square miles in Perry County, including portions of the Tuscarora State Forest, a Utility Task Vehicle (UTV) would be small enough to navigate through the woods, but powerful enough to handle the mountains.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot quicker response,\u201d said Campbell.<\/p>\n

But using an off-road vehicle comes with a catch for Pennsylvania\u2019s first responders: if they must take a public highway, they\u2019re limited to traveling two miles and must run lights and sirens. Otherwise, agencies are supposed to use a trailer to transport UTVs \u2014 or their counterparts, All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) \u2014 closer to the emergency.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to move trucks, hook up the trailer, load up the machine, strap it down, get there, and load it \u2014 we can lose 10-15 minutes response time,\u201d Campbell told the Capital-Star. \u201cOr we could just shoot out onto the road and get there and get aid to the individual a lot faster. In essence, we\u2019re risking people\u2019s well-being by waiting to load up because of the two-mile law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campbell told a state House Transportation Committee Tuesday that even if his team of volunteers went beyond the limit, it becomes a liability risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf something would happen, we\u2019ve not covered,\u201d said Campbell.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The panel didn\u2019t vote on proposals Tuesday, but Rep. Ed Neilson (D-Philadelphia) said it wasn\u2019t the end of the discussion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew this was an issue that touched a lot of different people in a lot of different ways, so we want to make sure that everybody\u2019s happy and we get a good product moving forward,\u201d said Neilson.<\/p>\n

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A tool for law enforcement, fire departments<\/p>\n

The Blain Volunteer Fire Company is just one of many emergency responders with an ATV or UTV. The off-road vehicles are more agile than a large fire apparatus, and can be equipped with water tanks to fight small brush fires or secure a a type of patient stretcher, known as a Stokes basket.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Law enforcement officers also said they used the vehicles to clear access points to homes buried in recent snow storms, which allowed emergency medical services to get inside safely.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two proposals under consideration on Tuesday \u2014 House Bill 297<\/a> and House Bill 2233<\/a> \u2014 both extend the two-mile range, but don\u2019t get at the root of the problem, according to Capt. Lance Carlen with the Central Bucks Regional Police Department.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth bills recognize these vehicles are valuable tools for police, fire and EMS. However, from our department\u2019s perspective, neither bill fully addresses the operations realities we face,\u201d said Carlen. \u201cOur department\u2019s position is simple: public safety UTVs should be permitted (for) road use for official duties, not just when operating in an emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"First<\/a><\/p>\n

First responders, right, talk about how their departments use Utility Task Vehicles to respond to emergencies. (Photo by Whitney Downard\/Pennsylvania Capital-Star)<\/p>\n

This would allow law enforcement to use UTVs and ATVs for crowd control at festivals or sporting events and general transportation.<\/p>\n

Current state law doesn\u2019t permit civilians to use the off-road vehicles on roadways at all and the commonwealth doesn\u2019t have a method to license them. Licensing would come with higher insurance costs, but was a request from Capt. Paul Kreuter, also with Central Bucks Regional.<\/p>\n

UTVs can come with an array of safety features \u2014 Blain\u2019s vehicle, for example, won\u2019t go above five miles per hour unless passengers are buckled in \u2014 and can have fully functioning doors, windshields, roll cages and headlights.<\/p>\n

Campbell said his department hosts UTV training on a specially designed course \u2014 though the driver\u2019s license requirement bars some of his Amish volunteers from participating. The $35,000 vehicle was purchased used, and the department also bought a $10,000 trailer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut no one will put a cost on people\u2019s life,\u201d said Campbell. \u201cIt just makes our job easier. It\u2019s well worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The committee doesn\u2019t have another meeting scheduled at this time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a three-mile hike carrying a 275-pound hunter with a broken ankle across rugged terrain, Blain Volunteer Fire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[53713,62181,28,62180,30,29,62182],"class_list":["post-134677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-house-transportation-committee","tag-nick-campbell","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-capitol-police","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-utv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}