San Diego Fire Department (SDFD) recognizes these old neighborhoods, laid out in late 1800s, have conditions that create fire safety issues for high rises and the surrounding neighbors. SDFD needs to keep our neighborhoods safe and not let current political policies override public safety. Their decisions have lasting impacts beyond the political administrations and their policies.
SDFD review of this project continues to cite safety issues based on the International Fire Code. (1) The street is too narrow to support aerial fire apparatus trucks; (2) the street is too narrow to support dedicated fire hydrant placement outside the high-rise; (3) the street fire lane width (12’) is “an unacceptable width given the proposed building type, density and increased hazard” — SDFD will insist on removing parking along Columbia St. (4) This high-density building (>100 units) only has one of the two required independent access routes. (5) Street layout does not support large quantities of emergency vehicle deployment, and this creates blockage of the neighborhood egress routes for evacuation.
All these shortcomings require discretionary approvals by the SDFD. The developer is seeking exceptions upon exceptions and additional exceptions, impacting public safety for the entire neighborhood. The city has already removed 50% of the residential street parking as a lesson learned from the 1991 Oakland Hills fire storm. SDFD should reject this high-rise for the multiple safety issues it creates.
