Every day outside Engine Company 16 on 13th Street Northwest, at least one firehouse employee gets a parking ticket while on the job, an employee there said.
The problem is even greater during a shift change, when 13 employees, who park in all the available space along the building in an alley, are replaced by co-workers who have no place to park until the others leave. If a call comes in for emergency help, those employees’ vehicles are often at the mercy of another District official who is also on the job: a parking enforcement officer.
“Parking is an issue for us every day,” said one firehouse employee, who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak on behalf of the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services department.
Legislation proposed earlier this month in the D.C. Council by Council Members Mary Cheh, D-Ward 3, and Kwame Brown, D-at large, seeks to help those employees by authorizing 60 feet of curb space along the building for permitted EMS employees.
Cheh has said the problem is particularly bad in her ward because parking is a premium, as it often is in downtown D.C. as well as in other heavily populated wards.
District Emergency Medical Services spokesman Tony Dorsey called the legislation “welcome news.”
“We’ve heard this concern raised often from our rank and file about being ticketed near their work stations,” Dorsey said.
