Pembroke Pines - Florida - Too Funny!
Slow response time by Pines firefighters has fire victims fuming
By ANDREAS TZORTZIS Sun-Sentinel
Web-posted: 11:50 p.m. Jan. 13, 2000
PEMBROKE PINES -- The car was already beginning to burn when Ruth Gilbert and her grandson jumped out of it.
Flames from Gilbert's six-year-old Ford Escort, which caught fire as she was driving around the Pembroke Lakes Mall, licked cars parked nearby.
The firefighters closest to the mall were at C.B. Smith Park, passing out literature from the back of their firetruck while monitoring a parade. After hearing the alarm crackle over their scanner, the firefighters struggled to navigate their truck through crowds to get to the site a few minutes away.
Another truck reached the scene first, arriving nine minutes after the 911 call. Firefighters are supposed to respond within six minutes, according to the International Association of Firefighters.
By then, Gilbert's car had burned down to the frame and caused heat damage to five other cars.
Gilbert, 72, said a shorter response time would not have saved her car, "but what about if somebody is dying?" she asked.
The firefighters association recommends the six-minute response time because those are the minutes most critical to people suffering from heart attacks.
Cathleen Wilson's concerns over response time were more personal. Her 1990 Buick, parked near Gilbert, suffered $1,169 in heat damage after the car fire on Oct. 30. Although insurance covered most of the bill, she was stuck paying the $250 deductible.
She called city officials, questioning why the city was using two fire engines on two special assignments to promote safety.
"I felt like that had something to do with their slower response that contributed to the damage," said Wilson, a school teacher who lives in Davie.
Pembroke Pines assistant city manager Terry Stewart called the city's decision a balancing act. The visibility and interaction firefighters have at public events do more for fire prevention than leaflets and lectures.
"Our fire department is a Class One fire department. We do a darn good job," said Stewart, a former assistant fire chief in the city's fire department. "One of the ways we do that is by getting out in the community and doing fire prevention and awareness."
Even if it affects response times, "you make judgments about what your acceptable level of risk is," Stewart said.
Wilson said she didn't think it was worth the risk.
"The only reason I pursued it," said Wilson, "is that I really want people to feel that if there's an emergency that the trucks can respond quickly."
Dispatch records show it took nine minutes after Gilbert's grandson called 911 for a firetruck to arrive from Pasadena Lakes Elementary school. The truck from C.B. Smith Park arrived later, although it was closer to the mall.
Assistant Fire Chief David Donzella said the truck had trouble navigating through the crush of people attending the Puerto Rican Day parade.
"Otherwise, normally, we'd definitely get there in a shorter amount of time," Donzella said. "It was unfortunate, plain and simple."
Andreas Tzortzis can be reached at atzortzis@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7930
