Photo from the Pennsylvania Capitol Police Pennsylvania Capitol Police added a Utility Task Vehicle to its fleet in 2024. The Polaris XD has emergency lights and transports people and materials around the Capitol Complex.

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.

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.

“It’s a lot quicker response,” said Campbell.

But using an off-road vehicle comes with a catch for Pennsylvania’s first responders: if they must take a public highway, they’re limited to traveling two miles and must run lights and sirens. Otherwise, agencies are supposed to use a trailer to transport UTVs — or their counterparts, All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) — closer to the emergency.

“We have to move trucks, hook up the trailer, load up the machine, strap it down, get there, and unload it — we can lose 10-15 minutes response time,” Campbell told the Capital-Star. “Or we could just shoot out onto the road and get there and get aid to the individual a lot faster. In essence, we’re risking people’s well-being by waiting to load up because of the two-mile law.”

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

“If something would happen, we’ve not covered,” said Campbell.

The panel didn’t vote on proposals Tuesday, but Rep. Ed Neilson (D-Philadelphia) said it wasn’t the end of the discussion.

“I 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’s happy and we get a good product moving forward,” said Neilson.

A tool for law

enforcement, fire

departments

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 type of patient stretcher, known as a Stokes basket.

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.

Two proposals under consideration on Tuesday — House Bill 297 and House Bill 2233 — both extend the two-mile range, but don’t get at the root of the problem, according to Capt. Lance Carlen with the Central Bucks Regional Police Department.

“Both bills recognize these vehicles are valuable tools for police, fire and EMS. However, from our department’s perspective, neither bill fully addresses the operations realities we face,” said Carlen. “Our department’s position is simple: public safety UTVs should be permitted (for) road use for official duties, not just when operating in an emergency.”

This would allow law enforcement to use UTVs and ATVs for crowd control at festivals or sporting events and general transportation.

Current state law doesn’t permit civilians to use the off-road vehicles on roadways at all and the commonwealth doesn’t 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.

UTVs can come with an array of safety features — Blain’s vehicle, for example, won’t go above five miles per hour unless passengers are buckled in — and can have fully functioning doors, windshields, roll cages and headlights.

Campbell said his department hosts UTV training on a specially designed course — though the driver’s 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.

“But no one will put a cost on people’s life,” said Campbell. “It just makes our job easier. It’s well worth it.”

The committee doesn’t have another meeting scheduled at this time.

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