The big squeeze
The Homewood Fire Department’s average response time is 3 minutes. But when their route to a call is blocked by on-street parking, the fire engine often has to sit and wait, minutes ticking by, while drivers relocate their cars from the city’s narrow streets.
Lt. Darrell Garrett in the city fire marshal’s office said it “happened all the time” when he was a firefighter at Homewood’s Station 1, on 28th Court S.
“I had to get out of the truck on emergency response and start, with the siren going, and telling people to move their cars,” he said. “It’s not rare. It’s very common.”
Homewood’s largest fire engine is just over 9 feet wide, or 14 feet 5 inches with the doors open.
Garrett said the engines need roughly 18 feet of roadway to safely travel roads during emergency calls, without having to slow down to avoid hitting cars in tight spaces. The fire engines also require about a 28-foot radius to successfully turn at an intersection.
“Our streets aren’t wide enough to have two cars on either side,” Garrett said. “So if you put two cars on either side, now you’re down to about 10 feet, maybe.”
That means many Homewood roads cannot have cars parked on both sides and still have 18 feet of clearance. Greg Cobb in the city’s Building, Engineering and Zoning Department said some roads, like Mayfair Drive and Devon Drive, are only 18-19 feet wide in total.
“Anybody’s house on this street catches fire, we cannot get to it,” Garrett said while reviewing photos of parking situations in Homewood. “This is really dangerous. I mean, it’s going to burn to the ground because if we pull up with our sirens blaring a block away and we can’t get to the house, what are we going to do?”
“They don’t realize how much they’re putting these houses at risk or in jeopardy by blocking the street. Because we have to be within 150 feet by code — that’s how long our hand lines are — to get in and fight fire,” he continued.
When they run into these problems, Garrett said firefighters will try to plan alternate routes or have a second engine come from another direction. However, if there’s only one way to access a dead end street, they have to start finding vehicle owners and getting them to relocate, or attempt to drive through carefully if they think they can fit.
“So even if we’re not completely blocked, where our average response time of 3 minutes might turn into 5 if I’ve got to squeeze through and not hit anybody’s car,” he said.
“Thank God it hasn’t happened on a fire, that I know of,” Garrett added.
Garrett said it makes sense that most everyday drivers don’t realize just how much space an engine needs. The fire department has been using new, orange car tags and social media efforts to let people know about multiple safety violations that regularly happen.
Parking in driveways or on one side of the street can help fire engines keep response times quick, and Garrett said drivers should also consider staggering their parking if they must be on opposite sides of the road, so an engine could weave between vehicles.
City codes also require a minimum of 30 feet of distance between any car parked on the street and intersection stop signs, as well as 3 feet of distance from fire hydrants. This allows engines to take the wide turns that they need and access hydrants quickly when they arrive.
“We can’t make the turns. We have to have the whole intersection to turn those fire trucks,” Garrett said.
The fine for violating those ordinances is $100 per offense. Garrett said he and fellow inspector Lt. Mark Shannon have begun more rigorous enforcement of these ordinances, as well as the prohibition of parking in a fire lane at any time.
“There’s two $100 parking tickets in the city of Homewood. One is parking in a fire lane or blocking fire department access or devices, and the other is parking in a handicapped space when you’re not supposed to. All other parking violations are $20,” Garrett said.
Homewood Fire Department is often in a literal tight spot since many of the roads were laid out when Homewood was a smaller city and had fewer cars to worry about.
“It’s just the nature of our city,” Garrett said.
These narrow streets range across the city, from Yorkshire, Windsor and Devon drives in Hollywood to Clermont Drive, Irving Road, Mecca Avenue and Stuart Street near Homewood Middle School. Garrett described Reese Street as a “nightmare right now” and also noted Parkside Circle and East and West Glenwood Drive as other trouble spots, though he said there were many other roads with this problem.
Elaine Powell, a 16-year resident of West Glenwood, said on-street parking is a daily occurrence on her street. It can be difficult to drive even in a regular vehicle, she said, particularly during events or when cars are parked near the apartments on East Glenwood and block the road, she said.
“It is very difficult to drive down [the] street unless cars put two tires on the sidewalk, which most people know to do,” five-year West Glenwood resident Andrea Snyder said. “It would be difficult for a fire truck to navigate if there were two cars parked across from each other on both sides. However, it is very rare that this happens.”
Powell also said she has seen fire engines having issues on her street, including having to drive in reverse to exit due to space issues.
These problems get compounded when residents hold birthday parties, yard sales or other events that can clog up the street.
“I love yard sales but they cause a traffic nightmare,” Garrett said.
The Homewood Fire Department responded to roughly 4,000 calls in 2017, and Garrett said about 85 percent of those calls are related to medical calls. So far, he said the department has not had its response to a house fire delayed by parking on narrow streets, but residents’ awareness of where they park can prevent that from happening in the future.
The idea of being only a couple blocks away from a fire and losing minutes of response time is something that Garrett doesn’t ever want to become a reality.
“We’ve got to sit there with our sirens blaring until they all run out of the house, find their keys and move their cars. And it’s going to be gridlock. The house is burning and it’s gonna be a nightmare,” Garrett said.
Share the road
► Leave at least 18 feet of roadway open
► Park on the same side of the street as other cars, or stagger vehicles rather than side by side
► It is illegal to park in a fire lane at any time (even if the vehicle is running)
► It is illegal to park within 30 feet of an intersection or 3 feet of a fire hydrant
RESTRICTED STREETS
The following streets have restricted parking rules according to City Code Section 19-21.1(b):
► Kensington Road’s north curb between the boundaries of Overton Park, after sundown
► Mayfair Drive’s south curb between the boundaries of Overton Park, after sundown
► Mecca Avenue from Edgeview Avenue to Valley Avenue and Mecca’s east curb from Oxmoor Road to Irving Road
► Oxmoor Road: No more than two hours in designated spaces between the intersections of Evergreen Street and St. Charles Street, within city limits
No parking on north boundary from Peerless Avenue to St. Charles Street, except on Sunday
No more than 15 minutes in designated on-street parking spaces in the Edgewood Business District between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday-Friday
► 18th Street: No more than two-hour parking from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, between the intersections of Oxmoor Road and 28th Avenue S.
No parking from the southern boundary line of the alley parallel to 29th Avenue S. and 28th Avenue S. for a distance of 55 feet southbound, between 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday
19th Street between 28th Avenue and 29th Avenue
► 29th Avenue: No more than two hours parking on the north side between 18th Street and 19th Street, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Saturday
No more than 30 minutes parking in the two designated on-street spaces on the north side of the road, near the intersection with 19th Street