emergency response time

my place is 4 blocks from a fire house. today AH and i were home for lunch when we heard a car crash. we looked outside and saw the cars in the intersection in unexplainable positions. ten minutes later, when i walked through the intersection on my way back to school, there were four emergency vehicles there and more arriving. it made me glad to live so close to the fire house. surprisingly, we don't get too much siren noise. my friend SM lives on the same street as the fire house and said that they often turn on the sirens directly outside his house, which is more disturbing than the steady approach and departure of the noise.