Video: Fire Engine Blocked By Snow-Seekers Double Parked Along Wrightwood's Mountain Roads
WRIGHTWOOD (CBSLA) — Southern California's white-capped mountains may look appealing, but the traffic and double parking the snow is attracting is downright ugly.
The Wrightwood Community Services District posted a video Sunday showing gridlock on State Route 2. The video, shot from a fire engine, shows vehicles double-parked up and down the road as people play in the snow.
"I've been up here over 20 years and yesterday was one of the worst," said Tami Keen of the Wrightwood Community Services District Monday.
And even when the fire engine uses its sirens, the gridlock is so bad at one point that the emergency vehicle can't get through.
"This is absolutely unacceptable," the caption on the post says. "The blatant disregard of the 'no parking' zones puts residents and visitors at risk."
To the west along the 5 Freeway, the Grapevine was closed Sunday by 9:30 a.m. to visitors due to the snow play area's small parking lot filling up fast.
"Yesterday was the worst," Sean Kensinger of Wrightwood Park Maintance said. "Just kind of a perfect storm because with school off, the New Year, and the new snow. Everybody came up."
The snow play area is closed. There is a small parking lot that fills up early in the morning. Only people with proof of residency will be allowed through the closure.
Posted by CHP - Fort Tejon - Grapevine on Sunday, January 2, 2022
A spontaneous day of snow play and sledding is one the pleasures of living in Southern California, but snow play areas be hard to reach before they fill up. Many areas where people congregate for a day of sledding are actually private property alongside narrow and winding mountain roads that are usually "no parking" zones that carry a $150 fine if drivers are caught parking there.
And if the blocked roads weren't bad enough, the visitors also left plenty of trash -- 25 bags of garbage were collected at two local parks.