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Solarpunk technology @slrpnk.net
JacobCoffinWrites @slrpnk.net

Technology question: are there solarpunk alternatives for firetrucks and emergency services for pedestrianized streets?

I've really enjoyed reading about people's ideas for solarpunk cities over the last few months, and even making some designs of my own while working on my photobashes.

I really like how pedestrianized streets look, and I enjoy the art of streets that have been reclaimed by forests, bike paths, and gardens, etc.

One thing I keep wondering about, and which has kept me from doing more extreme designs of my own, is firefighting and other emergency services.

Where I am, firefighters and ambulance crews are heavily dependent on their specialized vehicles, and the ability to drive directly to the site of the emergency, whether that's so they can quickly carry someone out on a stretcher and immediately start treatment, or so they can deploy ladder trucks for rescue, or spray down the fire.

A lot of the scenes I've seen, and honestly probably my own most recent one, would probably interfere with modern day firefighters at the very least.

So basically I'm wondering, are there solutions to this I don't know about? Are these tasks already done differently in some other parts of the world? I know people can cary ladders and hoses can probably be hooked to hydrants, but they added the trucks for a reason right? Or are there future solutions for city buildings that aren't very accessible by vehicle? (I'm from a rural area where if your house wasn't accessible enough the plan was basically to just watch it burn down while getting scolded by a firefighter, if they could even find it in the first place).

Or would solarpunk cities just have to require a certain amount of vehicle-capable street access per building, not just for emergency services but so disabled and elderly people can get around, or for transporting heavy items?

7 comments

  • Non tech-heavy solutions:

    1. A path can be driveable for special circumstance while still being mainly pedestrian. I think it is reasonable to ask pedestrian to give way to ambulances and firetrucks.
    2. A path could be required to be destroyable on emergency: e.g. bushes, flowers, light barriers should be destroyable by a good fire truck if they really need to go through. The lever here can be put fairly high, at the end of the spectrum if you look at what military consider "drivable on emergency" it includes pretty solid walls.
    3. I lived for a while in Tokyo where every tall building needs to contain its own evacuation facilities which may include emergency sliders that would generally make evacuation by ladders unnecessary.

    Tech-oriented solutions:

    1. Helicopters/drones. Electric vehicles allow some funky possibilities, like them being tethered to a power source (available from any electric vehicle recharge station) and could stay up as long as needed.
    2. Snake firehoses, these cuties can be powered by the water pressure and move guided by light and heat.
    3. Autonomous vehicles half the width of a car, with a mean active suspension, that can fit a laid down wounded and start driving to the hospital without waiting for an ambulance. Military already have those. Smaller than a car, can fit on a bike lane if people give way.

    There are excellent reasons to oppose flying vehicles in residential areas and to be critical of a drone-heavy future, but like every tech, used in moderation with an appropriate weighting of the pro and the con, it can lead to remove otherwise inescapable constraints.

    • Thank you, these are some really good ideas! I hadn't considered 'derivable on emergency' designs, and I actually kinda dig that one in particular - I think it'd be a good fit for fiction, it'd make for a pretty intense scene. Plus you can still do community gardens or bee gardens as long as people remember to keep anything obstructing clear of the zone. Emergencies should outweigh vegetables etc.

      I do like the idea of buildings that can handle their own evacuations and even fire suppression in some cases, though I try to focus on retrofits and older buildings being reused in my own projects, so that would have to be cobbled on in some cases. Still, it'd make a lot of sense as a building requirement if everyone is voting to repurpose the streets around it for parks or ponds or something.

      I really like the autonomous stretcher vehicles - those are cool. I kinda want to do a scene of an emergency at some point now. You don't see much solarpunk art of the bad days. Using some sort of oversized cargo drone to fly a hose into position, the way they currently position them from ladder trucks, could be interesting. Plus smaller ones for scouting, possibly. The snake firehoses are cool, I'm interested to see what they can do with them as the technology continues.

      I agree with weighing tech against its costs and that there's some really cool potential there. Thanks again!

  • Small flexble tricycle ambulances are actually quite common in low income countries with narrow old roads. For a relatively modern version see: https://www.dayangmoto.com/special-tricycle/ambulance-tricycle/

    Firefighters are also often a broad volunteer movement, meaning if every house has at least one trained person with easy to carry fire suppressing equipment, the fires will rarely get big enough to require professional outside help, at least in dense residential areas.

7 comments