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Attachment 4 Fire Chief Council Comments on Private Road and Access Standards (Comments that were received from Fire Chief Council members have been moderately organized and edited by staff.) 1. Cul-de-sac Diameters - Some of the larger apparatus that responds to rural areas can be as long as 35 feet. With private roads, cul-de-sacs tend to slowly loose diameter as vegetation grows in. When bringing water in for a house fire, often the only means for turning tankers around is to continue down to the end of a private road and use the cul-de-sac. A minimum cleared diameter of 50 feet for new developments would insure that the fire service would operate at peak efficiency. 2. Drain Pipes Under Driveways – Drain pipe are typically located 5 to 6 feet from the road edge. Drain pipes should be 16 foot wide so that trucks can pull into driveways without getting “hung up” with a wheel in a ditch. Note that in addition to avoiding a catastrophic problem with the entranced to a residence blocked, this change also improves response time by a few seconds and avoids having the responding to get way over into the opposing lane going very slowly in order to ensure it can cross the drain pipe. 3. Gates and Walls – Gates and walls are typically located 12 to 15 feet from the road edge. a. Gate Width – Gate widths at driveways should be a minimum of 12 feet wide so that emergency response vehicles can pull into driveways. Twelve (12) feet in width allows some room for overshooting. b. Width of Wall Openings - Walls are some type of masonry or concrete and you cannot overshoot them due to the corridor created by the wall construction. Wall widths at driveways should be a minimum of 14 feet wide so that emergency response vehicles can safety drive through them. c. Locked Gates - Many people have either locked gates or electronically controlled gates at their driveways. This slows down emergency services personnel because they have to dis-assemble the gate when they arrive at the house. There is always a dilemma faced by responders as to how much force should be used. If a house is visibly on fire, then an aggressive approach is not questioned. But for medical or fire alarms, if the emergency was not sufficiently life threatening or if the property in jeopardy was not of sufficient value the gate is carefully disassembled or responders wait for someone to come and open the gate. An ordinance addressing this issue would require that there be some means whereby responders can have access to a code, lock-box, or some other mechanism that allows them to open the gate, and would establish liability for gate damage if responders damage a gate. The benefit to the 123