Before we get to today’s batch of burning questions, my smart-aleck answers and the real deal, let me acknowledge a somewhat humorous mix-up in my Answer Man column of Sept. 21. I was asking for reader input on a mysterious, old wooden bin a reader had sent me a photo of.
The online version was fine, but the print product displayed a photo of a bag of moth balls under a headline about the mysterious wooden bin. Clearly, I wanted you good readers to see the bin and let me know if you have an idea of what it was used for.
I think we can all recognize a sack of moth balls, and we all know they can be really useful in keeping rodents from eating your car.
So, unless we mess this up again, here's the picture of the unusual wooden bin. Let me know if you know what it is!
I'll also note that this isn't nearly as serious as my all-time favorite Citizen Times photo flub, which occurred about 20 years ago. In that instance, in a story about edible wild mushrooms, we ran a photo of a highly poisonous mushroom, saying it was a safe one to eat.
Fortunately, no one croaked, but we were duly chastened to be more careful. For me, the lesson I took away was to buy my mushrooms at the grocery store.
Question: Is there any way to reduce the number of sirens that go off in Asheville? It seems like every first responder responds to everything, or at least there seems to be sirens going off constantly. I’m sure our residents could be protected, and lots of money saved, if there were a more efficient system. Why do they use the sirens so much? Could they be turned down? And why do firefighters respond to every call?
My answer: If the Fire Department would just switch back to the old-style Ahhhh-ooooga! horns, that would solve the problem. Not nearly as loud, and they have that nostalgic retro charm that everyone is so wild about these days.
Real answer: First of all, the number of calls is pretty mind-boggling for a city our size (about 93,000 people, give or take), partly because we have so many tourists coming downtown every day — about 11 million annually. Simply divided by 365, that's roughly 30,000 visitors a day, and half of them are probably solidly drunk.
OK, that's unfair, it's probably a third. And let's say "pleasantly buzzed."
Obviously, we get boatloads of tourists. More come during the high visitation months of April-October, and fewer in the winter.
More: Rebuilding America: Asheville area tourism comeback might take years but upswing begins immediately
"The Asheville Fire Department responds to an average of 20,000 calls per year," Asheville Fire Department spokeswoman Kelly Klope said. "This call volume is driven by the population density of our city and the daily increase in population due to tourism, retail, our highly rated hospitals, and colleges."
Firefighters are first responders, meaning they do respond to a wide range of calls, including medical situations. Telecommunicators triage 911 calls to determine the severity of the incident.
"If in any way the incident is life-threatening, the closest fire company, along with an ambulance and other appropriate resources, will be dispatched to manage the incident," Klope said. "AFD provides fire suppression, both basic and advanced life support services, rescue, hazardous materials response and other emergency services and does so from our strategically located 12 community fire stations."
In a nutshell, the Fire Department often can get there quicker than an ambulance because their locations are more spread out through town.
More: Top-ranking Asheville female firefighter with harassment suit against chief retires
As far as the loudness of sirens, there is a science to all that racket.
"Emergency sirens sound at a decibel (level) of approximately 120dB in order to overcome ambient noise in cars and to penetrate the car itself," Klope said. "The use of lights, sirens and other warning devices are mandatory when responding on emergency calls, based on the North Carolina General Statute."
This is the opinion of John Boyle. To submit a question, contact him at 232-5847 or jboyle@citizen-times.com.
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Answer Man: Why so many sirens in Asheville? Mystery bin mix-up? - Citizen Times
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