PUBLIC SAFETY VS. “PUBLIC SAFETY”
By Former Supervisor Tony Hall
Many of you have may have witnessed the latest controversial Citywide legislation as put forth by Supervisor Scott Wiener who represents District 8, regarding narrower streets and smaller fire engines and trucks in San Francisco.
As a former Supervisor, I thought I would opine on just how such legislation would affect the true public safety of all the residents of our City.
While the concept of “public safety” is no doubt an easy and popular issue for any aspiring politician to hitch his or her campaign to, there are important underlying aspects of how such changes will work in reality.
…smaller fire trucks are not able to carry all of the equipment necessary to respond to a serious fire…”
The current debate stems from the issue that Supervisor Wiener wants narrower, 20-foot streets in the Hunters Point and Candlestick Park development sites, while the San Francisco Fire Department wants the streets to measure 26 feet across. However, you can bet that any legislation relating to such will eventually have citywide repercussions, since Mr. Wiener’s legislation also calls for the Board of Supervisors approval of any street width, or size of fire apparatus.
Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White, city engineers and experts in the Department of Public Works all are of the opinion that wider streets will provide better overall public safety, and specifically pedestrian safety. The wider width is also the standard recommended under both national and international fire codes. It’s all about getting the fire trucks down the streets in an emergency situation. To put a ladder up safely it is necessary to extend jacks on either side of the apparatus, adding about 17 feet. Streets that are 20 feet wide simply do not allow room for other emergency vehicles or ambulances to respond. In the recent five-alarm fire in Mission Bay, the damage would have been much worse if the fire engines and trucks were not able access the fire by passing alongside other rigs, and the streets in that area are a minimum of 40 feet wide.
Wiener contends that “the fire trucks are really large, and one could argue more appropriate for a suburban setting.” He is really pushing for smaller trucks citywide. The reality is that smaller fire trucks are not able to carry all of the equipment necessary to respond to a serious fire in a city where the threat of fire hazards is of such prominence as in San Francisco. Our City is constructed differently than most. One of the biggest contributors to the magnitude of destruction in 1906 was the lack of access. Even in the Oakland Hills, where the streets are wider, the damage would have been much less in the fire of 1991 had there been easier access. I would also point out that the price tag to replace our fire trucks with new smaller ones isn’t an option at this time, even if appropriate ones did exist, because the cost would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. With the above-mentioned new developments, we have a chance to improve public and pedestrian safety with wider streets. In my mind, this takes precedence over wider sidewalks if we can’t have both.
In addition to narrower streets, Wiener is also calling for wider sidewalks with corner bulb-outs. No one is against pedestrian-friendly sidewalks of any proper design, except where such may impede the ability of emergency response vehicles to protect the safety of all residents. Bulb-outs can be attractive and useful if designed correctly, but in the narrow streets of San Francisco where many have already been constructed, some have restricted the flow of traffic and have resulted in pedestrian accidents and fatalities because the bulb-outs place pedestrians too close to the flow of traffic. San Francisco already requires that all drivers of police, fire and emergency medical apparatus, when driving in a code 3 alarm (full lights and siren), slow down or even completely stop when necessary at stop signs and red lights, only proceeding once they have taken full control of the intersection. Therefore, bulb-outs would not only be redundant given the precautions currently in place, they would significantly increase the response time in minutes by police, fire and emergency medical services by severely limiting the clearance space and maneuverability in intersections. This increase in response time could easily be the difference between life and death for residents.
San Franciscans are very tolerant of new ideas and are always eager to improve upon the landscape of our City. We also know that we live in a city where the streets are narrow and filled with wood frame buildings that provide us with a unique character. We have been very fortunate throughout our history to have one of the finest fire departments of any city in the world protecting our interests. I would advise Mr. Wiener to listen more carefully to those public servants who have demonstrated, by their life-long careers, that they too know something about PUBLIC SAFTEY.
Tony Hall served twice as Supervisor for District 7
June 2014
Tony Hall ARCHIVES 