if there are so many open spots then who cares where he parks...

Ummm, if there are so many open spots, then why can't he choose a legal or semi- hemi- demi-legal one?

Isn't the reason why there are no standing anytime signs in precisely-placed areas opposite firehouses so that those nice big red fire engines can pull in and out quickly without having to worry about sideswiping parked cars? Isn't that why the city so carefully places these signs in the locations and directions that they do around firehouses? Or does this city totally randomly place red signs around firehouses to annoy firefighters?

YEA IF THERE ARE SO MANY SPOTS AROUND WHAT THE HELL DO YOU CARE, WOULD YOU CARE IF THEY DIDNT PUT A FIRE OUT IN YOUR HOUSE OR MAYBE IF YOU NEEDED MEDICAL ASSISTANCE... YOU PEOPLE SHOULD THINK ABOUT THAT

you don't say how long the car was there, did they move it , were the spots available when the car was being parked? Get a grip.

holy cow batman....maybe when the fireman pulled into that spot the alarm went off and was at a job for x amount of time..... maybe he was hurt at that job and was taken to hospital...i believe none of the photo opt people never knocked on a firehouse door and complained to the officer on duty.

He is what, a tire width on the sidewalk? Literally on the curb. He is not blocking pedestrian traffic and we do not know what the other side of the street looks like. Most city plows push snow to the right side of the street, so the car to the right could be 3 feet from the curb due to a recent plowing of snow and ice.

The NS Anytime is so that the fire truck can make the swing when it leaves the house. If they can make the swing with one of their vehicles parked there I have no problem with that. Sometimes there is more to a sign then the sign itself.

As for choosing a legal spot, in all probability there were none when he parked.

I have no love for firefighters, but this is picking at nits.

MUSHA YOU ARE JUST ANOTHER JEALOUS ONE. WHY NO LOVE??MORE THAN 3/4 OF THE JOB WERE COPS

Seems the firefighter posts draw the most ire on this site. My congrats - you guys definitely have the most inventive laundry list of excuses for consistently parking illegally. Wonder what the reaction will be if I take some time-elapsed photos of the Mercedes constantly parked on Lafayette Street at Great Jones Street bearing the UFA permit.

To the anon FF - I defended the parking and think the post is nit picking to say the least. As for my dislike of FFs - does ripping the doors open on a stuck occupies ring any bells?

BTW, I am advising all FFs that they should ensure they have official parking permits from their job. I expect sooner then later you union cards will no longer hold water.

Look, the firemen posting are right. I'm a fireman, and there are dozens of times that I pull up to the firehouse, there are no spaces because it is change of tours, I might have to double park. I go in the firehouse, intending to repark the car once the day or night tour I am relieving goes home, but off we go to a call and we're not back for an hour. Sorry, but we're not going to hold up a response so that I can park 'legally' and that's why there's some leeway here. You have to understand the nature of the job. The bells go off, we go, no hesitation, no 'I gotta park my car correctly so that no one will complain.' That's it, that's the deal. I hope the public can understand that.

The FF above makes some valid points. Many in the public do not realize that FFs also go out on runs that used to be handled solely by EMS. Firetrucks are no dispatched to certain EMS runs to ensure a first responder arrives in the shortest amount of time.

I will easily admit that they are busier then they used to be, and I've yet to see a firehouse that has enough parking for the overlapping change of tours.

By the by, the official parking permit is this red cardboard joke that anyone can fake. The UFA placards actually have an embossing that prevent dupes. The UFA ones are used now, and accepted by the traffic agents. I've been ticketed using the official red one, since it looks, literally, like a high school kid made it up, and any traffic agent would rightly say, 'are you kidding me? This has got to be a joke.'

problem is your union permit, which can be used by you and your family (as you are issued more then one if i recall correctly) will soon be on the verboten list if i am not mistaken.

not saying its right or wrong, but pressure will be on my dept to no longer honor your union permits. they are not endorsed by the city and are technically not valid.

i doubt any cop would write you while parked at your firehouse for using the union permit... elsewhere tho...

Most cops give leeway as long as you're within a reasonable distance from the firehouse- meaning that you parked, say, one car length on the other side of a sign. The recognition is parking is tight, and things happen. No one gets a break if it's not near the firehouse. You will not find firemen's cars using their permits anywhere but within sight of a firehouse, period. Because cops and traffic agents will ticket you, rightly so. But withint the confines of the area of the firehouse, nothing should change. Read this site- the overwhelming majority of the violators are cops, court officers, and journalists. Overwhelming. Parking one space outside the lines near a firehouse, it's not even an issue. So don't honor the permit if you don't want to. But don't park an inch inside of 15 feet from a hydrant, either. We have ticket books, too.

I just don't buy the endless excuses I see on this site from firefighters as to why they park illegally. Fact is, you guys are not out of the firehouse during more than 50% of your shift. And when you have those precious three minutes of down time, my impression is some of you are posting comments to this site as to how busy you are, rather than properly reparking your cars.

Some options for how cops and fireman should get to work:
1) Drive and find a legal spot.
2) Drive and pay for a parking garage or lot like everyone else who elects to drive.
3) Take public transportation,
4) When public transportation is unavailable or more likely the case inconvenient, take a cab or car service.
5) Live closer to work.
Police and fireman are perfectly capable of making the same decisions that everyone else does with respect to lifestyle and financials tradeoffs of where to live and work.