Lafayette Falls residents raise traffic, fire response concerns after neighborhood fire

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Residents of the Lafayette Falls neighborhood are raising concerns about traffic and emergency response times as the community continues to grow.

Residents gathered Thursday with South Bend Common Council members representing the area to call attention to what they say are ongoing safety concerns.

One of the neighborhood’s longstanding requests is a traffic control measure known as a passing blister, which residents say would help manage traffic entering and leaving the growing subdivision.

“We’re going from 200 to 400 homes,” says Alissa Harding, president of the Lafayette Falls Neighborhood Association. “The passing blister will help accommodate over 1,200 additional trips per day in and out of the neighborhood.”

The city has said the proposed passing blister would cost roughly one-tenth of its paving budget.

But Harding says traffic is only one part of the neighborhood’s safety concerns.

“We can have a passing blister and that still means the fire response time is low,” Harding says.

The South Bend Fire Department said crews responded to the Sept. 18 house fire within six minutes after leaving the fire station on York Road. The station is more than 3 miles from the subdivision.
Residents said the distance has raised questions about whether a closer fire department could assist in an emergency.

South Bend Common Council member Sherry Bolden-Simpson, who represents District 5, says the city should work towards a mutual aid agreement between the South Bend Fire Department and Center Township Fire Department.

“We need a mutual aid agreement between Center Township fire department and South Bend fire department,” Bolden-Simpson says.

The Center Township fire station is about a mile from the Lafayette Falls neighborhood. Council members say an agreement could allow Center Township firefighters to provide an initial response while South Bend crews are on the way.

Residents also say the home involved in Friday’s fire reignited several times over the weekend, adding to their concerns about emergency response.

South Bend Common Council member Oliver Davis says the city already has a mutual aid agreement with Clay Township in another area.

“We were able to find out they already had an agreement up north with Clay Township,” Davis says. “The growth is coming this way and yet we have not had that agreement. Why not?”

Council members say they have discussed a potential agreement with the South Bend fire chief, but those talks have stalled.

Following the fire, Davis and Bolden-Simpson say they want the city to revisit the agreement as discussions continue. The council members also say they plan to push for traffic improvements around Lafayette Falls as the city prepares its next budget. They say they would not support the budget unless it includes traffic-control measures for the neighborhood.