Important Information from your local Emergency Services Provider The number of Emergency calls continue to rise in the north end of the county. Your local police departments, fire departments and rescue and EMS departments are running hundreds of calls each month. Cedarfield is no exception. The call volume to Cedarfield has increased along with the rest of North Mecklenburg County. The following is a list of concerns and actions you can take to assist the emergency services providers during this busy time. Please do not park on both sides of the street. The small neighborhood streets of Cedarfield are already very narrow, and parking on both sides of the streets could prevent larger emergency vehicles such as fire engines, ladder trucks and rescue apparatus from traveling down these streets to get to your neighbor's or your own emergency. If you must park on the street, please be sure that you leave ample space between vehicles so that emergency vehicles have access. Make sure your house numbers are visible from both directions on your street. The mail carriers may only come from one direction, but emergency vehicles could potentially come from either direction and properly marked houses significantly reduce the time it takes emergency responders to find your home in times of emergency. There have been a disturbing number of complaints of Cedarfield residents stepping in front of emergency vehicles or attempting to impede their travel in an effort to slow them down. You should never step in front of an responding emergency vehicle. You emergency responders have received ample training in the driving and operation of emergency vehicles. They take every measure to make sure that they are responding quickly but safely to all emergencies. If you have a complaint about the erratic driving of an emergency vehicle, do not take the law in your own hands by trying to slow down or stop the responding vehicle. You could cause a delay in their response to your neighbor's emergency or you could end up seriously injured or worse. Instead, take down the unit number and report the incident to the department's chief or the local police department. In the state of North Carolina, it is illegal to forcibly assault, oppose, impede, intimidate, or interfere with the actions or response of emergency services personnel. Emergency services responders are required to use their siren when responding to most emergency calls. The siren provides a loud audible warning of the approach of an emergency vehicle. Please do not ask responders to quiet or turn off their siren when they are responding to call. This could cause an unsafe condition for others who will not know of the approach of the emergency vehicle. Instead, when you hear a siren, you should be sure that you and your families are clear from the roadway. You should teach your children to recognize emergency sirens and make sure that they are not near the roadway. There are many hazards that emergency services responders face when driving to an emergency. You can assist us by not adding additional hazards and helping to keep adults and children out of the roadway. When your neighbors have an emergency, please do not gather on their lawn Please do not gather on their lawn while the emergency is in progress, or ask emergency service personnel about what is going on. Federal privacy laws prevent emergency services professionals from disclosing any information to anyone without the involved party's consent. Remember to pull over to the right and stop for all emergency vehicles responding to calls. Many of the emergency services departments in your area rely on volunteer fire and rescue professionals to respond to and handle many emergency calls. Many of these volunteers respond directly from their own houses in their own vehicles to these emergencies. Their vehicles will often have emergency lights, but most do not have a siren. Please grant these vehicles the same due regard you give the larger emergency vehicles and yield the right of way to these emergency responders. These responders often carry their own emergency equipment and are often the first to arrive on the scene and begin handling the emergency. When you find yourself going through an emergency, you want police, fire or rescue/EMS responders to get there as fast as they can. Your area emergency responders want to insure that they can get to your emergency quickly, but safely. Please partner with these professionals by following these tips and insuring that they can get to everyone's emergencies in a quick, safe and efficient manner. Thank you.   Dial 9-1-1