"smoke in the ville" redux

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

So, Townonline.com has an article up with a photo of the fire that happened last night in the Ball Sq. area.
http://www.townonline.com/somerville/homepage/x980630554
"Update: Fire victims were trapped on roof, firetrucks blocked from rescue by illegally parked cars"

You can bet parking enforcement will be clamping down on the parking-too-close-to-intersection issue.

Comments

[lac.livejournal.com]

I live in the area and actually thought I smelled burnt toast and thought it was weird the smell was lingering. I didn't actually put it together with the sound of firetrucks until this morning.

[ifotismeni]

whoa, is that what it was? i thought someone had burnt popcorn on the floor below me. @____@ my god, that's horrible -- i'm glad those families made it out but man, that was a hair away from complete tragedy.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

It looks like the same article that ran in the Herald yesterday. I question whether the "illegally parked" cars were really that close to the intersection. Henderson is a VERY narrow street, surrounded by several other very narrow streets, so even legally-parked cars could make it difficult for a fire truck to get in there. But maybe I'm just overly suspicious of the media ;)

I selfishly hope they DON'T decide to restrict street parking around there entirely, because it'll make an already bad parking situation on my street even worse. OTOH, better a bad parking situation than a bunch of kids burned to death, of course.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Most cars on narrow streets are actually illegally parked in the travel lane, though most people apparently aren't aware of it, and probably think that they are legally parked. Even the mayor parks illegally on the narrow street he lives on and seems to think nothing of it. (He violates regulation 5.1.g that says that it is unlawful to park "Upon any roadway where the parking of a vehicle will not leave a clear and unobstructed lane at least twelve (12) feet wide for passing traffic."). So while the law does already seriously restrict parking on most Somerville streets, most people clearly ignore the law.

Though this life-or-death situation might remind the city why they have those laws in the first place, or at least motivate them to see what the laws already say and then enforce them properly for the public safety.

(For some really dull reading, download a PDF of the Somerville Traffic Regulations (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ci.somerville.ma.us%2FCoS_Content%2Fdocuments%2FTrafficRegulations.pdf&ei=niOVRqPmEZ6aeZutlZMF&usg=AFQjCNE1-p-5hD7PcZ9QKkMcI8hdqx1DOA&sig2=rN1qmi2G_bR30fuazv8nQA) :-)

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

Even the mayor parks illegally on the narrow street he lives on and seems to think nothing of it. (He violates regulation 5.1.g that says that it is unlawful to park "Upon any roadway where the parking of a vehicle will not leave a clear and unobstructed lane at least twelve (12) feet wide for passing traffic.")

Goddamn, we need to rat the Mayor out then. If he wants to play hardball with the people of Somerville, he needs his feet held to the same exact..... ummm... (sorry, won't quite go there)

[derekp.livejournal.com]

I'm not familiar with the street, but fire trucks are VERY big. If the car really was illegally parked and there was a legitimate emergency, I see no reason the fire truck shouldn't just ram the cars out of the way.

Sure, it'd probably hurt the engines and make a mess of things, but we're talking about 5 people trapped on the roof of a burning building...

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

The engines would be fine, but the cars might catch on fire.

[ron_newman]

Was a car parked in front of a hydrant?

[ad-lib.livejournal.com]

not to be picky, but technically its more of the magoun square area. but that must've been terrifying. :(

[grateful1311.livejournal.com]

i'm sorry, are we limited by Square as to what we can talk about on this thread? LOL.

[ron_newman]

No, refers to the original post that said "in the Ball Sq. area"

[grateful1311.livejournal.com]

ah, i see.