By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Fire trucks are being stopped in their tracks by roads blocked with parked cars in Keysborough South’s estates.
Racing to a call-out, Keysborough CFA fire trucks are at times unable to squeeze through the narrow gap between cars on narrow streets such as Tyers Lane, Jakes Road and Grevillea Road.
In the middle of the night, fireys have reported blared their trucks’ horns to stir sleeping residents to move their cars.
Keysborough CFA was unable to comment.
But in a Star Journal story in 2018, a brigade spokesperson said he feared crews could be stopped reaching a house fire in good time.
“The issue doesn’t seem to be getting much traction. I hope it won’t take a major issue like us not being able to get to a fire.”
According to Greater Dandenong Council, the onus is on motorists to leave at least three metres’ of clear roadway width.
That’s just 10 centimetres’ leeway for the CFA’s 2.9 metre wide trucks.
Resident Dom Boccari says the council and State Government should take responsibility for the estates’ urban design flaws – the too-narrow streets and the lack of on-site parking at homes.
As a solution, the council could install indented parking bays within nature strips, he said.
In nearby Chi Avenue, the council has instead roped off nature strips on both sides to deter residents parking their cars on the street.
By doing so, the council “admits there’s a problem”, Mr Boccari said.
“So where are the people going to park their cars? You can’t expect them to park around the corner.”
Mr Boccari said stricter planning rules should apply to future residential estates, such as the mooted 15,000-resident estate at Sandown Racecourse.
“We need to expose these problems to avoid Sandown being built like Keysborough South.”
Greater Dandenong engineering director Paul Kearsley said the Victorian Government “sets the requirements within the planning scheme”.
“It should be noted that private roads can be narrower, however there are still requirements to provide sufficient width for emergency vehicle access.
“Council has no current plans to revisit the requirements set out in the planning scheme, as they are designed with emergency vehicle use in mind.”
He said the fire-truck access issues were “generally the result of motorists not adhering to the road rules when parking, such as not leaving at least three metres of clear road space when they park”.
“When specific locations are identified, Council’s parking enforcement officers monitor the area to ensure drivers are parking in accordance with this and other relevant road rules.”
Meanwhile the State Government says access to new subdivisions is regulated by “council planning schemes”.
Local roads were required to “allow the safe passage of emergency vehicles including fire trucks”, a Government spokesperson said.
“Where street widths do not comply with the requirements of the planning scheme, the requirements of the relevant fire authority and roads authority must be met.”
