Durham's speed humps often delay firetrucks and ambulances in getting to their destinations and increase risk to those they're trying to serve, a fire official says.
Deputy Chief Chris Iannuzzi of the Durham Fire Department wrote a paper on Durham's speed humps while attending the elite Executive Fire Officer Program in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Iannuzzi and Assistant Durham Fire Chief Andy Sannipoli recently graduated from the four-year program, which accepts only about 300 people nationwide each year.
In his research, Iannuzzi found Durham fire trucks are delayed an average of 10 seconds for every speed hump they travel over on the way to a fire or other emergency.
Because fire doubles every 60 seconds, delays can make a difference in the severity of damage and affect the outcome for someone having a heart attack or other medical emergency.
"Anecdotally, there have been cases when speed humps slowed firetrucks' arrival," Iannuzzi said. "We haven't collected specific data, so I can't go back and say it happened on a specific call, but we're trying to make sure we get that data."