Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruckus
Give me a break. Because the fire department can't drive its ladder truck across the Traffic Bridge, people may be consumed by flames? The fire department should have equipment that can go anywhere. And not just the fire department, all civic departments (e.g. transit, waste, etc). The reality is roadway design and land uses differ from one neighborhood to another. In this particular case, the one-size-fits-all procurement policy is an obstacle to incorporating intimate human-scaled design.
Sorry, I think the City has a backward approach to providing municipal services.
|
The biggest reason why Fire-trucks need bridges that can accomadate them, is not because of their physical size, but because of their water load. A fully loaded fire-truck can come in around 10 tonnes. The actual size of the bridge is fine as the equiptment is designed to meet National Traffic lane and height restrictions. However, with the amount of water the trucks need to be able to carry is what makes them much heavier. Now you might say why not use a hydrant? Well the reason for carrying water is within seconds of arriving on scene, there is the possibility that you may need to evacuate persons from a building. In THIS regard "seconds" make all the difference, so the need to hook up to a hydrant in these circumstances is not advantageous.
Also keep in mind, that the average response time for the fire-department is between 4-8 minutes, due to traffic, and times it takes to get personel and trucks out of the hall. Now that house may already be down with current constructions methods. So, like I said earlier. Anyway to make response faster would be adventageous for the city and for residents.
I don't mean to offend or argue with your point of view. All I wish to do is to inform readers of this forum the facts of why the Fire Cheif and City are doing with regards to fire-fighting equiptment.
P.S. Thank-you GOWEST.