Tag: Fire Department

Examining the Safety-Safety Dilemma

.Reading time 7 minutes.
a photo on left of two people riding in a protected bikeway, a photo on right of a fire truck at a fire station driveway

At the July 28, 2025 BPAC Policy and Legislative Committee meeting, Liza Lutzker will present on “Examining the Safety-Safety Dilemma: Preliminary Findings from a Study of Conflicts between Safe Streets Improvements and Emergency Response”.

Cities across the United States (U.S.) are encountering mounting tensions between efforts to improve street infrastructure for pedestrian and bicyclist safety (e.g., protected bike lanes, speed tables) and concerns from fire departments that such changes can impede emergency response and evacuation. However, emergency response and street safety need not be incompatible goals. Cities across the U.S. are developing innovative solutions, addressing the physical, institutional, and cultural roots of these conflicts.

Under a grant from the US Department of Transportation and the Center for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety, our UC Berkeley team is completing an exploratory research project to better understand the roots of conflicts and innovative means of overcoming conflicts. Under a grant from the US Department of Transportation and the Center for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety, our UC Berkeley team is completing an exploratory research project to better understand the roots of conflicts and innovative means of overcoming conflicts between street safety efforts and fire and emergency response priorities.

An excerpt is below, followed by the full presentation.

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Fire Code Update

.Reading time 6 minutes.

At the July 20, 2023 BPAC meeting, Felicia Bryant, Fire Marshal with the Oakland Fire Department, provided an update on amendments to Appendix D of the Fire Code. In September, the amendments will be presented to the Public Safety Committee of the City Council, following up on amendments adopted by City Council in 2022. Jason Patton, Senior Transportation Planner with OakDOT, helped explain the collaboration between the two departments on implementing traffic safety measures that are supportive of Fire Department operations.

An excerpt of the presentation is below, followed by the full presentation.

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Oakland Fire Code Discussion

.Reading time 13 minutes.

At the December 15, 2022 BPAC meeting, Commissioner Alex Frank facilitated a discussion on a series of policy recommendations that aim to balance safe street designs with fire safety for Oakland residents. The discussion will include a summary of the City’s Fire Code Appendix D (minimum clear lane requirements), its relationship to roadway design, and bicyclist, pedestrian, and motorist safety.

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