BY MICHAEL N. CIAMPO
OUR RESPONSE AREA HAS many special hazards, one a semiunderground expressway connected to a major bridge and an interstate highway. We perform semiannual inspections of the expressway's hydrants (located in between cutouts in the concrete divider or on top of the outside barrier walls) and dry standpipe backup systems (from street level to the roadway below) and the bridge's fire pump room and horizontal standpipe system with the agency responsible for their upkeep.
Responding to a reported auto fire on the expressway is nothing out of the ordinary. Normally, we'll find a fully involved auto or just an overheated vehicle and the traffic backed up as we try to squeeze the apparatus through the congestion. With sirens blaring, we had hopes of the cars moving to each side of the roadway, getting as close to the concrete dividers as possible so we could proceed. Passing them was difficult with inches to spare; seeing a hydrant was hard because of the cars next to the dividers; and with acrid smoke billowing out of the end of the tunnel's overpass, it was impossible to spot a hydrant marker sign on the wall. Even though the police were on scene and the road was shut down, we still positioned the truck behind the engine to block the roadway for scene safety.
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