Public Service Announcement: Don’t leave your cars in fire lanes, people

‘Station 17 Volunteers’
courtesy of ‘macmoov’

The apartment fire on Tuesday afternoon at 1444 Rhode Island Ave may only have done $250,000 in damage and sent six people to the hospital; it could have been a lot worse.

It also could have been a lot better. DC Fire & EMS had to move a truck illegally parked in the alley behind the building before they could get their ladder trucks close enough to rescue those people trapped on the upper levels of the building. There is nothing more frustrating than having to wait for a tow truck, or to have to spend time on actually moving the illegally parked vehicle, instead of spending that time actually rescuing people.

Don’t be that guy. You’re facing big fines for parking in a lane, and the wrath of firefighters and police, who aren’t going to exactly be careful while moving your car out of the lane. So don’t park your car in the fire lanes, people, you could be risking someone’s life.