Sunday, July 2, 2023

A Different Broken Windows Hypothesis

A few days ago, I saw a Twitter post with these two photos that showed New York City firefighters had broken the windows out of a car parked next to a hydrant to run a hose through its windows:

I confess I never knew firefighters break windows to get hose access, but I guess it makes sense. I also learned from this post that there's a scene in the movie Back Draft that includes this methodology.

There were many comments, with about 10% questioning the need to do it: why didn't the firefighters push the car out of the way with their truck, or run the hose around the car.

People explained that there were cars parked on either side of the illegal car so it couldn't be moved, and that the high water pressure from hydrants means the hose can't be kinked like that, and other details.

One person said they lived on that block and that this car is frequently parked illegally in front of hydrants along the block.

But this is the response, from Mo @whatnow200, that I think is the best of all:

I can’t get over the amount of people who think the fire department should have tried something different. Value one person's (illegally parked) car vs a burning building. Got it.

Oh, I almost forgot! There was also one comment that complained that the curb should have been painted red, and called it entrapment.


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