ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) – We’ve all seen it. Maybe some of us are even guilty of doing it.
There are laws in place about parking in front of fire hydrants.
The reason being, if a vehicle is blocking access to a hydrant and crews need that hydrant to extinguish a fire, your vehicle could make the difference in whether or not the fire can be put out before significant damage occurs.
However, a spokesperson for Roanoke Fire-EMS says crews were doing maintenance this weekend in downtown Roanoke and they experienced some complications because of cars parked in front of hydrants.
“Even if it’s just for a short amount of time where you’re in a store, in that short amount of time we could be coming to a scene to go and put out a fire or come for a medical call or what have you,” explained Kristen Perdue, Community Risk Production Specialist for Roanoke Fire-EMS. “We need to be able to park there or get to that hydrant whenever we need to.”
The department says that if you are caught parking in front of a hydrant, you can expect a $50 ticket.
Perdue says it’s not just Roanoke’s firefighters who are seeing this, but those in surrounding counties, as well.
