PITTSBURGH — While the narrow streets above Carson Street on Pittsburgh’s South Side are hard to negotiate with even the smallest car, imagine trying to navigate them with a fire truck during an emergency.
For the men at Station 24, their days are anything but typical because their “office” includes the South Side Slopes.
Their fire trucks have to climb up some of the city’s steepest and narrowest streets.
Kathleen Kucerouy lives in the Slopes and remembers being amazed by how they fought one fire.
“Just to see that they saved the next house because these houses are so close together. To save the next house is amazing!” said Kucerouy.
Pittsburgh Firefighter Capt. Dino Abbott took Channel 11 anchor David Johnson on a tour of the hard to get to streets.
Abbott said one in 10 calls that Station 24 gets are for those areas. He said when one of those calls comes in, he thinks, “Can we get there? Are we going to be able to get to that spot?"
On streets, such as Koshusko, Greely and Shamokin, on foot is the only way to go.
“You have to hike it and hoof it and grab what you can,” said Pittsburgh Firefighter Mike Schanck.
"So you got to lift the ladder up overhead to get across, then turn, then go in. It's tough,” said Pittsburgh Firefighter Rick Reider.
The ladders alone are nearly 114 pounds, and that’s only a small portion of the equipment the crews use to fight fires.
“It'd be hard to actually walk up these hills, let alone have to get an apparatus or carry equipment down,” said Abbott.
The firefighters don’t receive any special training at the academy for roadways such as the ones on Pittsburgh’s South Side, but those who work at Station 24 do when they first arrive because anyone may have to drive the rigs at any time.