Thread by @chris78701

At the @austinmobility @austinfiredept safety meeting

Acting Chief saying that we all have a common goal (safety).

Says the key is to talk to one another to find common ground to be successful.

If you wanna ask a question, goto slido.com and use ATX as the access code

My first question

Current progress

Ongoing coordination

ATD presenter saying it's a complex issues. Says we can't just have smaller fire trucks.

Mentions building codes, etxlc

(I disagree, lol)

ATD rep saying balancing 'managing congestion' and safety. #congestion

"we have a duty to manage safety by design....we can't solve for it in a silo...have to work with AFD"

ATD rep saying the Active Transportation Director likes to remind everyone, "design is 24/7"

Bravo.

AFD rep now talking about fire policy considerations.

They try to arrive within 8 minutes.

AFD rep now talking about their big trucks

Says their trucks are 10' 2" wide

AFD posing the question, how do we get trucks around each other on narrow streets?

AFD saying that response time is important.

Mentions how fire shows up for medical stuff (because they don't know what is actually on scene)

these are the next steps

AFD saying they've wanted 25' so they could go around vehicles.

Saying other cities want 26'.

AFD saying that in 1988 is when COA started demanding 25' widths.

Pulled up my question about Hyde Park.

AFD saying they're working on buying smaller trucks but it's an evolutionary change.

Says that as the city sprawled in the 80s, the new subdivisions had limited connectivity. Need wider streets because of one way in, one way out.

AFD chief saying 25' is default but they allow smaller streets by exception.

Answering my second question, about how other cities are responding.

AFD saying they've looked at Portland and SF.

Portland has certain avenues exclusively for fire response.

Saying SF has smaller trucks.

AFD also saying they have newer smaller trucks coming in next week.

Next question: are most calls for medical? If so, are they in the conversation?

AFD saying they have more units so they can respond quicker. Also note that EMS trucks are similar sized trucks.

AFD saying they are confined to a minimum of 9' for what manufacturers make.

Saying they're pursuing shorter trucks with better turning radius.

Saying that there's a lead time as well as challenge to get the smaller trucks.

AFD chief saying they're trying to copy Portland's model of working hand in hand with transportation dept.

'so a pumper cannot spray a two story roof?'

AFD saying that because of setbacks, that they need aerials to spray down into the attic.

Also mentions that as Austin densifies, they need to prevent the fires from spreading. And wildfire concerns.

"thousands of blocks in ATX don't conform to current IFC requirements - how are they safely served?"

Mentions connectivity. And bike lanes with mountable curbs.

AFD (kind of, grudgingly) acknowledging that connectivity allows narrower streets.

AFD chief saying there's more density of fire stations in denser parts of town, and the response time is already lower.

In sprawl, there's less density of fire stations.

(phone died at the end so, it felt like a productive meeting. Lots of urbanists, peds, bikes, and #VisionZero activists present)