Complaints about parked automobiles blocking hearth hydrants have greater than doubled because the begin of the pandemic — with critics blaming the surge on bike lanes and even a scarcity of cops, data present.
The variety of 311 calls on blocked hydrants has been skyrocketing for years, with 11,886 studies in 2014 ballooning to 64,346 in 2020 to greater than 100,000 yearly since, in response to an evaluation of metropolis knowledge by The Publish.
A whopping 105,155 calls have been made in 2021 — 63.4% enhance from a yr earlier, with the quantity persevering with to climb to 127,751 in 2022 and 134,377 in 2023, the information confirmed.
Final yr noticed a modest dip in complaints with 134,026 calls in whole. Since Jan. 1, there have already been practically 18,000 calls this yr.
The staggering numbers come after hearth officers blame blocked hydrants for delayed response occasions to 2 deadly blazes within the Large Apple final week.
“We’ve got seen two fires previously week which have resulted in fatalities the place the firefighters have been unable to entry the closest hearth hydrant to that fireside,” mentioned Queens Metropolis Council member Joann Ariola, who’s drafting laws to impose harsher penalties and computerized summonses for blocking hydrants.
“Each second counts when folks’s lives are at stake, and I consider that laws that makes penalties greater and offers residents the flexibility to report those that refuse to comply with the legislation will probably be an enormous deterrent,” the council member added.
One deliberate invoice would enhance the superb for blocking a hydrant from $115 to $1,000, she mentioned. One other invoice would permit customers to submit 311 movies of automobiles blocking a hearth hydrant, leading to computerized summonses for the car proprietor, she added.
In a letter to Metropolis Corridor final week, one resident group — the Ozone Park Residents Block Affiliation — blamed the “critical citywide drawback” on the NYPD officer scarcity, which “has led to slower enforcement of parking violations.”
“In some instances, by the point officers arrive, the offending car has already left,” the letter reads. “That is unacceptable, and it has now resulted within the potential lack of life.”
Fewer New York Metropolis residents are driving as effectively, in response to census knowledge, with 43.8% of households gaining access to a number of automobiles in 2023, in comparison with 45.6% in 2013.
Ariola’s workplace pointed to Division of Transportation initiatives like bike racks and guarded bike lanes which have allegedly wolfed up parking within the boroughs as presumably contributing to the skyrocketing complaints.
“Persons are determined for parking,” a spokesperson for Ariola’s workplace informed The Publish. “That’s a really giant enhance [in complaints] … all of the parking is being taken away.”
The spokesperson added that recently-enacted Intro 104, which requires the DOT to seek the advice of with native firehouses earlier than approving open streets and a few bicycle lane initiatives, was drafted after discussions with the FDNY over its problem reaching condominium buildings with ladders as “they’re now two lanes additional out than they need to’ve been due to the bike lanes.”
The DOT pushed again on that evaluation, with a rep noting there are roughly 3 million on-street parking areas within the metropolis. DOT’s Open Streets don’t require eradicating any current areas.
“Protected bike lanes are a confirmed life-saving instrument that reorganizes a tiny fraction of our collective avenue area to make our roads safer for everybody—and neither of the 2 current fires within the Bronx or Brooklyn occurred on streets with protected bike lanes or in neighborhoods with a excessive variety of protected bike lanes,” a repo informed The Publish.
FDNY members have additionally informed Ariola’s workplace that they have to use a specialised hose when a car blocks a hydrant.
The sentiment was echoed in a brand new public service announcement launched by the FDNY days after a lethal Feb. 9 hearth in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn – which noticed “delays” in firefighting response after two automobiles blacked the 2 closest hydrants to the blaze, making it tougher for firefighters to deal with the flames capturing out of the roof.
“It’s unlawful to park inside 15 ft of a fireplace hydrant,” the FDNY mentioned. “Seconds matter in an emergency, and blocking a hydrant may delay firefighters when responding.”
Days after the Brooklyn hearth, firefighters bumped into the identical problem whereas battling a blaze at a Buddhist temple within the Bronx on Wednesday. The hearth claimed two people, The Publish beforehand reported.
“I’m begging New Yorkers in all 5 boroughs: Please don’t go away your automobiles on hydrants,” FDNY Commissioner Robert S. Tucker mentioned in an announcement after the Bay Ridge hearth, which claimed a 37-year-old Navy veteran.
“This can be a deadly hearth, and there’s little question that the automobiles that have been parked on the hydrants have slowed down our members from partaking in firefighting techniques,” Tucker added.
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