Matthew Moore

After a yearlong campaign aimed at stopping drivers&nbsp;from parking in fire lanes, Cape Breton Regional Fire and Emergency Services is looking to take the next step to stop the practice.

The department said&nbsp;it plans to ask&nbsp;the province for permission to allow fire prevention officers&nbsp;to hand out tickets to offenders.

"Our prevention operators are already special constables with the province so that they can enforce building codes as well as burning regulations," said&nbsp;Craig MacNeil, the deputy fire chief.

Now the department wants them&nbsp;"to be able to provide some of the enforcement."

While MacNeil could not&nbsp;recall an&nbsp;instance in which&nbsp;a vehicle blocked access while firefighters were responding to an emergency, he said&nbsp;he wants to avoid such a scenario.

Three vehicles are parked in front of a department store in the fire lane. 

Fire officials say they are looking into getting the jurisdiction to write fines for fire lane offenders.

CBRM Fire lane2

During the campaign last summer, traffic service Const.&nbsp;Brian Barkhouse said&nbsp;Cape Breton Police had handed out dozens of tickets.

"We issued approximately about 40 tickets over those few hours sporadically over the couple of weeks within all the three divisions of the municipality," he said.

Both MacNeil and Barkhouse&nbsp;say local business owners should&nbsp;either alert the offending drivers when they park in a fire lane or&nbsp;notify police.

"Businesses have to be more cognizant to report those issues to the police so that we know where the problems are," Barkhouse said.

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Fire officials in Cape Breton say vehicles that block the fire lane are putting residents, business owners and firefighters at risk.

CBRM firefighters want to hand out tickets to drivers who park in fire lanes

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