Problems with the Plan
0. - http://www.dandunn.org/park.html#history - please click on "with some discussion"
1. There is no real plan - just two old fire stations that are in disrepair - the plan is to replace the stations that were built in the 1920s with the exact same stations in the exact same locations - if the present Arlington Center Fire Station is a danger to the public (per the Capital Planning Committee), I hope it was repaired yesterday.
2. Walnut St can become a river during Tstorms versus lowering Highland Fire Station main floor
3. HQ - cannot accommodate 2 quints
4. doors are too small - 12 X 12 versus 14 X 14
5. no drive thru bays - safety issue
6. failed / outmoded paradigm - defibrillation is best when done within 2 minutes - even if there was a fire station on every street corner in Arlington, response times would still be over 2 minutes - EVERYWHERE (except inside the fire stations maybe) - the only way to make this work is to have the firemen sleep in the firetrucks when at the station
7. Creates an area of heavy protection along River St - 5 times more fire protection in that area
8. Glosses over shortcomings in the current FD operations - for example - Engine 3 at Park Circle is the closest fire unit to the Mormon Tabernacle yet they never respond to calls there
Look at the comments attached to the following video regarding the shortcomings of the North Attleborough Fire Department - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0NIe6ywlZE - How effective is the Arlington Fire Department ? - Do you have ANY real idea? - Here is another fire video with some interesting comments about the fire department versus "freelancing ventilation" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZzQibzeWtY
9. Modern emergency response centers should be places of refuge from natural disasters, terror attacks, hazardous materials incidents, pandemics, nuclear explosions, armed attacks, etc
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Misc Reference material
1. London FD goals / plan
2. https://sites.google.com/site/standardsofcoverfire/ - various indepth fire department studies
3. TriData Australia / Japan study - no one knows relationship between FD spending and safety - please see the paragraph beginning "No one in the world ...." on page 66 in this document https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnx3b3JsZGZpcmVzaXRlfGd4OjQ2ZmRmMGQ3YzA5ZWMwYTA
4. http://www.gilroydispatch.com/printer/article.asp?c=260913 - please see the "Truth Behind ....." for the role of firefighter unions in the USA
5. http://www.fire.lacounty.gov/HometownFireStations/Photos/FS155.jpg - Photo of Los Angeles County Fire Station 155 - not every fire station has to be humongous