Fire Engines and golf (very OT)

[Jon Wiggett]

Just seen this article on the BBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-37142481


 and it reminded me of when we had to design in access across a course I worked on for a fire engine to be able to reach a remote farm house. This involved constructing a hard surface road around the back of a green literally six foot from the putting surface. The solution the GCA came up with at the time was to disguise the road as a bunker which worked really well though care was need to make sure enough sand was in the bunker.


I have not come across anything similar but wondered if anyone else has and what solution was found.


Jon

[Tom_Doak]

It's not unusual on U.S. housing-development courses to have to route an emergency access road through the golf course, so that residents will have a second way out in the event of a fire. 


In fact, most towns have zoning codes that limit the length of a cul-de-sac street, so that at most a handful of homes can be cut off from a point of exit in case a fire blocks the road.  So, if you design a longer cul-de-sac, you have to provide an emergency access out the other end.

[Jon Wiggett]

It's not unusual on U.S. housing-development courses to have to route an emergency access road through the golf course, so that residents will have a second way out in the event of a fire. 

Tom,


have you ever done or seen any examples where this has been integrated into the course as a playing feature so as not to be so obvious as a road going through the course?

[Jonathan Mallard]

So long as you design your bridges or other structures for HL-93 loading, all will be fine.


The particular piece of equipment is well beneath that, but many of the larger tankers and quint vehicles cause quite a lot of stress in older bridges.

[Garland Bayley]

Can the concrete mesh product be laid in the ground with grass growing out of the holes? A neighborhood near my old house had fire access built this way as a minimally gated street extension.

[Jon Wiggett]

Can the concrete mesh product be laid in the ground with grass growing out of the holes? A neighborhood near my old house had fire access built this way as a minimally gated street extension.

Garland,


that certainly would help to lessen the visual impact outside golfing areas but I doubt you could play off it.