Backing Up Is Hard to Do

The huge firetrucks Orange County began buying more than a decade ago can do everything that two or three trucks used to do: They lug more equipment, pump water and carry ladders that reach the seventh floor of high-rises.

The one thing they can’t do is turn easily.

And that has led to a conflict between residential developers and officials at the Orange County Fire Authority, which can force changes in building plans.

Fire officials insist that new subdivisions have wider, straighter streets and bigger cul-de-sacs so their trucks can maneuver easily in emergencies. But the county’s developers say the authority is destroying their efforts to produce smaller, tranquil neighborhoods with narrower streets and cozy cul-de-sacs.

“When you have bigger streets, guess what? People drive faster,” said Chuck Trevisan, vice president for architecture and planning at the Irvine Co. He wonders why a truck big enough to fight a high-rise fire is needed in a residential area and why the authority would even buy a truck that is so hard to maneuver.

Fire officials, though, insist that life and safety are their only concerns. Their 46-foot trucks, called quints because they can tackle up to five jobs, are efficient and better equipped to save lives and property in the county and the 19 cities the authority serves, officials say.

“We understand the building industry’s desire to move toward small streets,” Battalion Chief Scott Brown said.

But, “when it’s all done, if they hamper our ability getting into neighborhoods, then it’s a concern.”

For now, the feud simmers on a back burner. In a Sept. 14 letter, Fire Chief Chip Prather told the Building Industry Assn. that no more quints would be ordered until his department conducts a review to weigh the authority’s needs for such large equipment. The chief gave no date when the analysis would be finished.

A decade ago, most of the quints were owned by individual cities and the Orange County Fire Department. But when the fire authority was formed four years ago, it inherited the larger trucks--and criticism from builders.

The county’s developers and builders, following a national trend, have been designing smaller-scale neighborhoods, even within larger developments.

The fire authority’s decisions on planned streets will impact several large developments on the drawing boards for central and south Orange County, including Rancho Mission Viejo’s Ladera Ranch and the Irvine Co.’s West Park in Irvine.

“We’ve been pursuing the goal of more intimate streets, more intimate scale, which have a traffic calming effect,” said Dan Kelly, a spokesman for Rancho Mission Viejo, developers of the 8,100-home Ladera Ranch.

Ladera’s streets were part of a compromise worked out with the fire authority, Kelly said. The cul-de-sacs were widened to accommodate the bulky quints, he said.

Phillip Bettencourt, a consultant for the building industry, said planners often come up with ideas to slow traffic, such as putting fountains in the middle of roads. But such features hinder the big quints.

Fire officials praise the quint as a workhorse. By carrying hoses, a pump, water tank, ladders and equipment like the jaws of life, it combines functions previously handled by two or three vehicles.

Before the quint, a hook-and-ladder truck would arrive at an emergency but couldn’t pump water. Or a pumper would arrive first when a ladder might be needed, Brown said.

Few vehicles have been given similar scrutiny by builders and developers, who must also design streets that accommodate trash trucks and service vehicles.

The fire authority has trucks longer than the quint, but they are tractor-trailers that include a tiller--or steering mechanism--in the rear section. Consequently, they turn more easily.

The fire authority has 16 quints, including 11 large ones and five that are 40 feet long. The larger truck carries a 90-foot ladder and the shorter quint has a 75-foot ladder, Brown said.

In driving comparisons, the larger quint couldn’t make U-turns easily in several Irvine neighborhoods, cutting response time.

Though both sides say they are willing to reach a balance, developers have been able to stick more to their designs: In Irvine’s newer communities, gently curving streets are as much as 30% narrower than the standard 36-foot-wide residential road.

Fire officials said that to operate the quint during emergencies, roads must be at least 20 feet wide, with no parking allowed.

While most firetrucks are 8 feet wide, the large quint is 9 feet wide and, when its outriggers are extended to stabilize the vehicle, it’s nearly 20 feet wide.

The county’s builders association has urged the fire authority to stop buying such large pieces of equipment, said Robert Brower, a consultant to the group.

In his letter, Prather agreed, for now.

Community vs. Safety

Builders and fire officials are at odds over planned communities in central and south Orange County. Developers want narrower streets and cul-de-sacs that promote community ambience and reduce traffic speeds, while the Orange County Fire Authority wants widths that allow long trucks, called, quints, to navigate neighborhood streets during an emergency. A look at street widths:

Source: Orange County Fire Authority

Graphics reporting by BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times