Cambridge Volunteer Fire Brigade
Frustrated firefighters have complained to Cambridge Community Board that speed humps are impacting on emergency response times.
Chief fire officer Dennis Hunt
Chief fire officer Dennis Hunt called for a re-evaluation of all of the speed humps in the town as he shared his concerns with the board on their impact, particularly in Bryce, Victoria and Wilson streets.
Hunt was disappointed the council had disregarded his comments before their installation a few years ago.
“While we appreciated that new cycleways were likely to be implemented on Wilson and Bryce Streets, we stressed the importance of having little change to Bryce Street,” he said.
“In the past, we would deliberately try to avoid traveling through the CBD and it was important for us to continue to use Bryce Street. However, with the current configuration of Bryce Street, it is now less of an option for us. We have issues with the level of raised speed humps, the pedestrian crossings around the roundabouts, and the contour and narrowness of the road outside the Moxon Centre.”
Cambridge’s chief fire officer Dennis Hunt, left, and deputy chief fire officer Glenn Philip with the new Ford F150 vehicle.
Changes had resulted in fire trucks changing routes to calls and the public avoiding roads, adding to the congestion, he said.
“The speed humps are hard on our trucks and given the number of these in close proximity to our station are a big factor in our choice of travel routes when attending calls.”
Hunt said appliances had to virtually stop to get over a large speed hump by the town hall.
“The speed humps along Cambridge Road on the way to the velodrome are excessively high and the small skimming made to these some months ago has had little impact.”
“We would welcome a re-evaluation of all speed humps in our town.”
Hunt said the brigade had been asked whether it would consider moving to Hautapu.
“Our station is best placed where it is, unless a site in Carter’s Flat were to become a possibility in the longer term. Our members live all over Cambridge and we cannot have residents in Leamington trying to turn out to a station based at Hautapu. Our station must be accessible to everyone, and we have already noticed a delay in response times as we manoeuvre through congested streets to get to the station.”
Board chair Charlotte FitzPatrick suggested said the board would seek a response from council transportation manager Bryan Hudson.
Cambridge Volunteer Fire Brigade’s water tanker, seen heading out recently, has had a busy time with vegetation fire callouts.
