300 likes | 434 Views
ROADWAY WIDTH . A FIRST RESPONDERS PRESPECTIVE. I plan to go through some background material quickly and then look at some scenarios that illustrate some of the issues. First Responders to Local Emergencies Fire and Rescue Law Enforcement Emergency medical Services.
E N D
ROADWAY WIDTH A FIRST RESPONDERS PRESPECTIVE
I plan to go through some background material quickly and then look at some scenarios that illustrate some of the issues.
First Responders to Local Emergencies • Fire and Rescue • Law Enforcement • Emergency medical Services
First responders to disaster includes a much longer list of organizations and an expanded list of access issues.
The issue for First responders is Rapid safe access to incident scenes. Concerns include:
Traffic and traffic control • Road width • Cul-de-sacs • Parking • Traffic Calming • Traffic Diverting • Bridge capacity • Overhead clearance
Today’s discussion will be directed to the question of road width. • The discussion of road way width includes curbs and the width and stability of shoulders.
Access concerns increase with the size of responding vehicles and the number of vehicles that typically respond to an incident.
Who has the big toys? Comparing a police curser, an ambulance, and a fire apparatus makes it clear which service has the greatest concern about road with.
Fire apparatus comes in a great verity of sizes and functional layouts. • Terminology to describe fire apparatus varies from place to place. • The Department of homeland security is working on a classification system for apparatus. • A quick photo gallery shows some of the differences.
The general range of sizes for conventional fire apparatus is displayed on the following apparatus prints
In summary most newer fire apparatus is between about 26 feet in length for a simple engine to more than 50 feet for a tractor drawn aerial truck. • The larger engine rescue trucks, tanker/tender trucks, and the super rescues fall in between. • The basic width is 8 foot 4 inches or 100 inches. • In some cases fire departments add appliances on the sides of the vehicle that expand the width
There is no standard for the type and amount of fire apparatus that should respond to a building fire incident.
There is a recommended standard for personnel to respond to an incident. Urban >1000 people/sq mi. 15 persons/9 min 90% Suburban 500–1000 people/sq mi. 10 persons/10 min 80% Rural < 500 people/sq mi 6 persons/14 min 80% Remote* Travel dist >8 mi. 4 persons 90% National Fire Protection Association Standard 1720
There are over 2000 fire departments or fire companies in Pennsylvania. • Their available apparatus and staffing • and community type vary widely. • The following diagrams are not intended to show right or wrong tactical apparatus placement
LAST WORDS • As a first responder I would have liked 11 foot minimum lanes with no parking. Being realistic 9 foot lanes with 1.5 foot stabilized shoulders would work, and a few parked cars would not drastically effect the operation. However on party night with lots of closely spaced parked cars it can become very difficult.