The rescue service emergency vehicle does not arrive

This summer, when it was very hot, many people wanted to cool off with a dip. Several took the car to the bathing areas, which in some places created a parking lot chaos for which the rescue service had difficulty reaching with their emergency vehicles. Now it happens again, although this time the reason is that people make pilgrimages to lakes and seas to go ice skating, walking or swimming in winter.

On several occasions when the rescue service has gone out by lakes and seas, they have noticed that many parked in such a way that they had not been able to arrive with their rescue vehicles in case of alarm. Therefore, the rescue service is now urging people to think about how to park.

– We see that it is the same problem as in summer. The entrances and exits are blocked. When there is a small gravel road to the lake, you stop on both sides of the road, then we don’t get there. In some places, the road is so narrow that you shouldn’t stay there at all, says Kenny Thuresson, operations manager for the Greater Gothenburg Rescue Service.

He continues:

– We have seen that you park so that there is no free space for our rescue vehicles to arrive.

The reason is so clear that they must be able to come forward to save people in need. And right now there are many who want to go out on the ice, which can pose a risk of ending up in the water.

– Timing is of the essence, we cannot look for alternative routes and there are rarely alternatives. If you pull the water out now, it’s very cold, it doesn’t take many minutes before it gets so cold that you can’t get up. So we must be able to get there fast to save.

Kenny Thuresson urges everyone to stand inside the parking spaces, and if there are no windows, there is no space to park. If it is marked with a rescue route or barriers, you should never stop there. Also park on the same side as previous cars, he says.