Seconds slipped away as firefighter Mike Abernethy eagerly waited to enter the intersection of Research Boulevard and Burnet Road near Fire Station 8 in North Austin.
Vehicles blazed by that Thursday afternoon as traffic began to build at the crossroad. Abernethy could only watch and wait in frustration as minutes piled up in their response time.
"If we turn on our sirens, it would push traffic into the intersection where they could be hit by oncoming traffic," Abernethy said. "We can't do that. We should be at the emergency within four minutes but, on a busy day, we could be at this light for at least two minutes."
For anyone waiting for firefighters to respond to their emergency, seconds beyond eight minutes can truly be the difference between life or death, according to Austin Fire Division Chief Palmer Buck.
However, as the population of Austin continues to skyrocket and congestion on the city's streets worsen, firefighters say they are finding it increasingly difficult to make the citywide response goal of 8 minutes or less, 95% of the time.
"We look back every year and sometimes we are surprised by what areas aren't meeting their times," Buck said. "What we have to do is make sure we can respond in an area quickly and that we can access the buildings and the neighborhoods with our trucks."
"Eight minutes is worst-case scenario for us," added Lt. Jerry Cohen, who sat beside Abernathy in one of the smaller Station 8 fire trucks.
However, not all fire stations are managing the population changes as well as Station 8:
- Austin Fire Station 27 in Travis Country averages a response time of 11 minutes and five seconds 73.4% of the time in some of its coverage areas.
- Austin Fire Station 23 near Cameron Road in North Austin — whose firefighters also have difficulty pulling out of the station — averages 9 minutes and 24 seconds 77.8% of the time.
- Austin Fire Station 17 near West Ben White Boulevard and South First Street averages in some of its areas a response time of 9 minutes and 33 seconds 78.6% of the time.
Before a temporary fire station was put in last month in Moore's Crossing in Southeast Austin, it took firefighters an average of 16 minutes and 13 seconds to respond to an emergency on 40.9% of all calls in a large part of its coverage area.
Buck said many of the stations, like those listed above, are struggling.
"People no longer have the ability to pull over to the right because of the big barriers or plastic impediments in the bike lanes," he said.
"What doesn't work out well for anybody is pushing traffic," he continued. "For us to sit two feet off your bumper while running our lights and honking out horns when you have nowhere to go except into an intersection doesn't help anyone."
'Interesting trade-off'
Abernathy took a detour through the Domain mixed-use development in North Austin after a fire alarm call to show just how difficult it is to respond to emergencies in some parts of town.
Cohen said parts of the Domain are nearly unreachable because of the narrow roads that now have high curbs and are jam-packed with parked cars and construction crews.
"We come to this area for calls every couple of shifts," Cohen said while trying to help Abernathy down one road, where they were eventually forced to reverse because of an illegally parked car blocking the route. "If we had to come here for a fire, we wouldn't be able to because we can't fit. And this is the smaller truck."
Buck said the same can be seen in areas near Shoal Creek and West Slaughter Lane. The Mueller Town Central District, which was built before the fire department started regulating street widths two years ago, is also a problem, he added.
But Eric Bollich, acting assistant director for Austin's Transportation Department, said that with the city averaging more than 70 traffic deaths a year — many involving pedestrians — one of the preventative measures are road diets, in which part of a street is narrowed to add bike lanes and parking. Other measures include speed humps, barricades and trees planted between medians.
"Congestion is something we have to manage," Bollich said. "Speed is a huge factor in addition to distractions in our area. We're working to design new streets with safety in mind."
Tom Vocke, Austin fire division chief, said that while these methods have promoted pedestrian and bike rider safety, they have slowed emergency responses.
"We definitely see these issues with road narrowing in Shoal Creek and Slaughter Lane, where they cut out half of a lane to slow traffic which is great, unless you're trying to respond to an emergency," he said. "As traffic slows, we have to slow."
Kara Kockelman, a transportation expert at the University of Texas, said, however, she believes the fight for road diets and other traffic-calming tactics should come first before firefighter response times.
"It's a really interesting trade-off," Kockelman said. "The city is trying to avoid emergencies by trying to make travelers safe by slowing drivers down so they don't harm pedestrians. But then there is a higher chance of them dying if there is an accident because it takes firefighters longer to respond."
Fight for a solution
As the population of Austin begins to expand into outlying areas, the fire department and city officials have agreed to build five new fire stations in the next five years to help those areas needing quicker emergency response.
Cohen said the rapid increase in population not only causes issues with responding to emergencies, but are also creating more calls in general.
"The busiest fire stations were running 200 calls 15 to 20 years ago," the firefighter said. "Now, the busiest stations are running 300 calls a month."
Each station will cost about $2 million a year to maintain and will be located in Travis Country, Goodnight Ranch, the Loop 360 Corridor, Moore's Crossing and Canyon Creek.
"These are all areas that have needed fire response over the past decade," Vocke said. "There are other areas we've identified where we have not met our response time goals, but we have future stations we need to get done before we start dealing with those other areas."
The city has also begun to slowly replace old fire trucks with narrower ones to accommodate for narrower streets. Vocke said in the next 10 years, many of the fire trucks should be replaced.
"It's a trade-off because we won't be able to carry as much water or have as much backup equipment, but it will be better for accessing areas in our city," Buck added.
Bollich and fire officials agree the city and Austin fire have begun to work closely over the past two years to design and redesign city streets with safety in mind.
Buck said it's a constant negotiation among developers, city officials and firefighters on the best way to design residential communities and commercial districts, while also deciding what road-calming techniques will be implemented in the future.
"Overall, we're working with the city to do our best to accommodate for Austin's growth," Buck said.
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