Driver ignores yellow tape as crews tackle massive fire, damages hose

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The last thing first responders need while they’re trying to put out a fire, collect evidence or save a life is to worry about a driver going under the yellow tape and potentially hitting someone or destroying something at the scene.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened in Vancouver on Thursday morning.

As crews mopped up the scene after battling a three-alarm fire at Metropolitan Fine Printers on East Pender Street near Clark Drive, a man drove past the cones and yellow tape and drove right through the scene. In the process, the driver ran over a fire hose, damaging it to the tune of about $1,000.

Vancouver Fire Captain Jonathan Gormick was at the scene when this happened. He was on the phone when the driver turned the corner, describing what happened as surreal.

“The driver was travelling westbound on Pender, drove under the fire line tape at Mclean, turned the corner and then drove up to a charged five-inch water supply line, drove over it, tore a hole in it and then tried to drive away.
“There might be a chance we can cut the damaged section out and re-purpose that hose for training, but for operational purposes, no — it’s ruined.”

LISTEN: Vancouver Fire Captain Jonathan Gormick speaking with NEWS 1130’s Sonia Aslam

 

Gormick says it’s incredible no one was hurt considering they’re in the middle of a messy, wet scene as they investigate a massive blaze.

“It’s inconceivable to think the driver didn’t see the yellow caution tape [and] didn’t see the literally six-inch high charged yellow piece of hose. This wasn’t a 4×4, this was a regular compact car that managed to basically rock crawl over the charged hose. There’s no way that person couldn’t have noticed that they had to give it a lot of extra gas to get up and over the hose, that they were snagged on something and then, like I said, once it happened and they realized something was wrong decided to try and flee.”

He adds the driver had one of their cones stuck under his wheel.

“There are huge dangers to it. The first is interrupting the water supply. We were fortunate at the time there were no crews in the building, but if there were teams in the building at the time that could have interrupted their water supply and that’s their lifeline. It could have put firefighter lives at risk. It could have put the lives of any occupants we were trying to rescue at risk.”

This isn’t the first time a driver has forced their way through an emergency scene.

“We saw about six months ago a firefighter injured at a fire downtown where a car drove over the hose, dragged it, swept him off his feet and he’s still recovering from injuries and not back at work. [He has] severe knee injuries.”

It’s hard to imagine what may be going through someone’s head when they drive under yellow tape and Gormick points out, first responders already do everything they can to prevent something like that from happening.

“I would probably characterize it as a degree of… self-centredness that people think they need to get somewhere and get there right now and this is the only way and don’t have a concept that other people might be in distress, there might be an emergency going on. We get the same complaints. We hate blocking traffic, but we’re trying to help people. People get irate about traffic having to divert. It’s not in our interest to block traffic and we’re all commuters too, so we understand the headaches, but it’s all in the name of safety and helping people.”

Gormick claims he and other firefighters chased the driver this morning, boxed him in with some apparatus and called Vancouver Police. He says the driver was apologetic once he realized what happened.

“There are only so many cones and tape and barriers can do. The onus is upon us to keep our head up and always be situationally aware, but drivers really need to take a second, slow down, pay attention and be mindful of diversions like that. They’re there for a reason, they’re not there to be inconvenient. They’re there for everyone’s safety.”

However, the VPD says when officers got there, they found the vehicle, but not the driver.

“The driver will likely be issued a violation ticket under the Motor Vehicle Act for driving over a fire hose (section 199 MVA),” says Constable Jason Doucette.

That fine is $81.