Firefighters warn motorists on parking

Stone firefighters have appealed to motorists to think before they park after revealing that they’ve been unable to get down 14 streets in the town recently.

Firefighters have reported problems in Church Street, the area around Stonefield Park, Berkeley Street and Northesk Street to name a few. New postcards have now been produced (pictured above) which firefighters will leave on the windscreens of any vehicles they come across in Stone that are parked inconsiderately.

Station manager Neil Pedersen said: “The problems we often find are that emergency appliances cannot get down streets because of the way in which people have parked. This not only affects firefighters as they are driving around carrying out community safety work, crucially it means they could be delayed in reaching an emergency situation.

“We would ask that vehicle owners consider where and how they are parking so that an emergency vehicle can safely pass. A fire engine is approximately three metres wide and to comfortably pass parked vehicles a four metre gap is required.

“All we ask is that you consider where you’re parking your vehicle – have a check around before you leave it: can a fire engine get past easily? Don’t park on street corners and try to avoid parking parallel to another car on the opposite side of the road. I’m sure if people took a second to think about it they wouldn’t want to be the reason for delaying a fire engine in an emergency.”