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Michelle Hughes
@MegaMichelle@a2mi.social  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

Back in Ann Arbor, there are a bunch of people who want walkable communities and abundant housing.

The "cars-and-single-family-homes-only" crowd often argues against walkable infrastructure by saying that there's no way that emergency vehicles could use it. Especially giant fire trucks.

Let me show you what happened today on my block in Mexico City when there was a fire.

#A2Council #CDMX #MexicoCity

A small building is on fire in a gated-off empty lot on a street with cars parked in front of it.
A small building is on fire in a gated-off empty lot on a street with cars parked in front of it.
A small building is on fire in a gated-off empty lot on a street with cars parked in front of it.
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dragonfrog
@dragonfrog@mastodon.sdf.org replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

@MegaMichelle North American fire departments often block density, walkable communities, narrower human-scale streets and intersections, etc., saying their giant-ass trucks wouldn't fit through them.

Then the cities ask the fire departments to start buying sensible-sized fire trucks like they use in cities that have these features, so that a full procurement cycle later the city can start improving their built environment. Then the fire departments just... don't do that.

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Michelle Hughes
@MegaMichelle@a2mi.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

That building that's on fire is a small abandoned building about the size of a news stand. It's in a gated-off empty lot full of trash. Flammable trash.

A handful of pickup trucks showed up, including police, civil defense, and the fire department.

 A bright red pickup truck from the fire department of the borough of Miguel Hidalgo is driving up the street. It's passing where an ambulance is parked. I don't know if you can really tell that's an ambulance from this photo. You just see the back of a van and it's red and has sirens.
A bright red pickup truck from the fire department of the borough of Miguel Hidalgo is driving up the street. It's passing where an ambulance is parked. I don't know if you can really tell that's an ambulance from this photo. You just see the back of a van and it's red and has sirens.
A bright red pickup truck from the fire department of the borough of Miguel Hidalgo is driving up the street. It's passing where an ambulance is parked. I don't know if you can really tell that's an ambulance from this photo. You just see the back of a van and it's red and has sirens.
 A white pickup truck, labeled as being from the civil defense department of the borough of Miguel Hidalgo, has parked on the street in front of the fire. A worker is filling a backpack-and-sprayer assembly from a 5 gallon jug. Not sure they're fully equipped for this.
A white pickup truck, labeled as being from the civil defense department of the borough of Miguel Hidalgo, has parked on the street in front of the fire. A worker is filling a backpack-and-sprayer assembly from a 5 gallon jug. Not sure they're fully equipped for this.
A white pickup truck, labeled as being from the civil defense department of the borough of Miguel Hidalgo, has parked on the street in front of the fire. A worker is filling a backpack-and-sprayer assembly from a 5 gallon jug. Not sure they're fully equipped for this.
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Michelle Hughes
@MegaMichelle@a2mi.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

One of these pickup trucks had a proper firehose with it. They hooked it up to a pressurized spigot in the ground or on a building or something. They sprayed the fire out nice and quick. For some reason, the firehose and pressurized water from the pipes was able to put out the fire even though there wasn't a massive truck parked nearby!

Sorry I didn't get a better picture of the hosening. I didn't want to get in their way.

A firefighter sprays water out of a firehose. You can only sort of see him because I had an awkward angle. Mostly, you see a red car that just happened to be parked there before the fire. Also, the firefighter is on the other side of the gate that closes off the abandoned lot.

Also in the photo: a civil defense worker kneeling in the road. Maybe he's filling another one of those water backpacks? I don't know, I was watching the guy with the hose.
A firefighter sprays water out of a firehose. You can only sort of see him because I had an awkward angle. Mostly, you see a red car that just happened to be parked there before the fire. Also, the firefighter is on the other side of the gate that closes off the abandoned lot. Also in the photo: a civil defense worker kneeling in the road. Maybe he's filling another one of those water backpacks? I don't know, I was watching the guy with the hose.
A firefighter sprays water out of a firehose. You can only sort of see him because I had an awkward angle. Mostly, you see a red car that just happened to be parked there before the fire. Also, the firefighter is on the other side of the gate that closes off the abandoned lot. Also in the photo: a civil defense worker kneeling in the road. Maybe he's filling another one of those water backpacks? I don't know, I was watching the guy with the hose.
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Michelle Hughes
@MegaMichelle@a2mi.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

Oh, BTW, nobody was hurt in this fire. The whole thing was very calm. It was just this tiny abandoned building at the far corner of the empty lot. Lots of civilians and cops just standing around watching

(I wore my N95 mask while the fire was happening and for a little time afterward in case there was any harmful smoke, which there was almost sure to be.)

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