When firefighters are battling a blaze, motorists need to stay clear of the scene. It’s not just for their own safety, but to avoid doing damage to the necessary equipment being used to fight the fire.
Moncton Fire Department Platoon Chief Brian Gaudet says at their most recent fire on Mountain Road, they had motorists passing their trucks, on the scene, instead of turning around, and as a result vehicles were driving over their fire hose, “Imagine if the motorists drive over the hose, and they damage it while it is dry, and then we charge the supply, but it’s full of cuts, because they have driven over it. Then we’ve got a big problem.”
He points out in Section202(2) of the New Brunswick Motor Vehicles Act, it states that no person shall drive a vehicle over an unprotected hose of a fire department when laid down on a street, highway or private driveway, at a fire or an alarm of fire.
Gaudet says this isn’t the first time this has happened, and it appears to be happening more often, and it jeopardizes their firefighting efforts.
