Greater Sudbury firefighters and paramedics haven’t hit anyone with their vehicles while exiting the city’s downtown emergency services station, and they want to keep it that way.
In recent weeks, the city has installed surveillance cameras pointed at the building’s front and rear bay doors and added LED lighting to the building’s exterior to better illuminate the area.
They’ve also fenced off a small alcove next to one of the bay doors opening onto Shaughnessy Street and added “No Loitering” signs for good measure.
Despite there being no incidents of note to date, Greater Sudbury Fire Services Deputy Chief Craig Lawrence said the opportunity for delayed response to emergent situations due to people or vehicles being in the way has existed for some time.
That, and the potential for vehicles to strike pedestrians.
“It’s been very busy in terms of pedestrian traffic around the station, and we have had loitering issues in the past,” he said. “There are blind spots there, so if you’re pulling out there could be someone right to your left and you won’t know until you pull out.”
The cameras’ footage is fed into the building for emergency personnel to review in two locations, with a third monitoring station slated to be installed in the platoon chief’s office.
They will be monitored on a casual basis and reviewed again when emergency responders are called out.
“You're not waiting for that call to come in. If you see there’s someone parked across the street prior to getting a call you can have it addressed before you have to respond to an emergency,” Lawrence said.
“Across the street” is in reference to Shaughnessy Street, the entire breadth of which firefighters need access to in order to get their vehicles out of the building.
As such, it’s a problem when vehicles are parked across the street, which happens on occasion despite prominent “No Parking” signs being in place.
Two ambulances exit onto the Paris Street side of the building, which is also monitored by cameras accompanied by new lighting.
A longer-term goal will be replacing the building’s existing white bay doors with clear ones, so members are always able to see what’s going on outside the building.
“We’re all about public safety,” Lawrence said. “The last thing we’d want to do is hurt someone while responding to help someone.”
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
