How do emergency and utility vehicles, such as fire trucks and waste management services, access the residential environment in a Home Zone?
A variety of service and emergency vehicles of different types require significantly different maneuverability dimensions and levels of access. Home Zone designers should ascertain from local government the size of service and emergency vehicles that will normally require access to designated Home Zones. Response times for fire and ambulance services may also have implications for the design of a Home Zone. Typically emergency responders seek to arrive at an incident within five minutes of the call. The first 90% of this response time is made on principal roadways. Once into a neighborhood (the final 10%) speed is no longer critical but access is crucial. Thus, involve emergency responders early, be sensitive and flexible to their concerns and develop collaborative solutions. Discuss the possibility of using smaller, more maneuverable vehicles, providing alley access, putting electric lines underground and placing fire hydrants at intersections.
