AgdaPkt 2002-12-02 - Laserfiche WebLink

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EXHIBIT A FINDING OF FACTS Finding 1: That the City of Redwood City ("City") lies on the San Francisco Peninsula towards the southern portion of the County of San Mateo. The City is connected to the City of San Carlos to the north, to the City of Menlo Park to the south, to the Town of Woodside and unincorporated portions of San Mateo County to the west, and San Francisco Bay to the east. The City is composed of a combination of fiat and hilly areas. It rises from San Francisco Bay to neady 900 feet in elevation. The City also has a deep-water port and channel, and a section of town referred to as Redwood Shores. These two areas are connected to the city proper by means of bridges, overcrossings, or single road connections which, in case of an emergency such as an earthquake, could very easily be isolated and cut off from assistance. The limited number of response routes and the lack of feasible alternate routes, subject responding fire department apparatus to significant delays in arriving at fires. As the City and environs continue to grow without compensating increases in traffic arterials, traffic congestion becomes correspondingly worse. It is not uncommon for responding fire apparatus to come to a complete standstill in traffic when responding the entire length of El Camino Real (State Route 82), Middlefield Road, Woodside Road (State Route 84), Whipple Avenue, Jefferson Avenue, Marine Parkway, Oracle Parkway, and U.S. Highway 101 - when responding to parts of the City during various times of the day. Peak traffic volumes at these locations are as high as 4350 vehicles per hour.~ These delays result in an insufficient number of fire department resources arriving sufficiently early to effectively control fires involving high-rise buildings, buildings with untreated wood shake and shingle exteriors, and large interior areas not having automatic fire-protection and life-safety systems. Many of the new high-rise buildings and large building complexes have structural, landscaping features and designs which preclude or greatly limit any approach or operational access to them by fire department apparatus. There are many buildings to which access is limited to all but one side due to slopes, canals and sloughs, levees, high-tension electrical transmission lines, fences, or other buildings. When fire department apparatus cannot gain access to high-rise buildings and large building complexes, it becomes necessary to conduct all extinguishing and ventilating operations from the ;nterior. It also requires that much equipment must be carried for long distances from fire apparatus to the fire location, which may be many floors above the ground. Such operations quickly exhaL st firefighters both in numbers and in stamina. This can result in delaying, misdi;'ecting, or making impossible - fire and smoke control efforts. State of California 1997 Traffic Volumes F :Atty/Reso/Re so. 1333 3 1O2802