The Fire Lane: A Story
After completing my university architectural studies and started working, my first assignment was working at the mega development at L.A. Live. I was given a huge opportunity to perform many tasks out in the field directing trades and in the office managing daily coordinations. This single project taught me a great deal of lessons that establish the basis of how I operate today in all facets of development, architecture, and construction.
The most important lesson selected me a couple of months into the project. One morning I was performing my first job walk to gauge process prior to the foreman’s meeting. As I was leaving the site walking towards our offsite office in an adjacent building, I had to cross in between to large structures and then out the gate to the street. It was the 25 foot wide fire lane and this narrow strip handled many critical deliveries.
As I enter the lane, which was approximately 25 yards long, I could see two deliveries pull up to the gate simultaneously. I approached closer to see two concrete trucks coming from the left and two flatbed trucks with gigantic steel beams entering from the right. I was within 20 feet of the gate and the respective foreman met at the street in the center of the lane. Their voices were loud with arms gesturing wildly.
“Get your f***ing truck out of my way!” they both said to each other.
I saw the confrontation and quickened my step to reach my arm into separate the two. It was if I was completely invisible. The two men, both in their late 40’s, early 50’s, continued their vocal barrage.
The steel foreman looked at me and shouted “tell this mother— to get his truck out of my way!”
“I’ve got concrete in that truck ready to pour and I’m moving in first!” The concrete foreman replied while pointing his finger in the face of the steel foreman.
I continued to stand between them and attempted to ease the situation with a few words. It was as if they didn’t even acknowledge my existence. Their attacks continued.
”OK WAIT A MINITE AND LISTEN UP!” I shouted. “We’re not getting anything done fighting with each other!”
The two men looked a bit surprised and they eased for just a moment. “Ok, we’ve got a tight space and we all need to get in.” I continued as I looked at them both. “What do you need and what do you need?”
The concrete foreman interjected quickly: “I’ve got to get to the back of the lane and pour. I’ve got two trucks and about 20 minutes to get them unloaded.”
I looked at the steel foreman. “How long to unload your flatbed? Can he get one truck in while you unload?” I asked.
”I need about 15 minutes, I’m only stacking the material on the upper deck.” The steel guy said.
“So, one concrete truck to the back of the lane while you unload truck one, then move and let the next concrete truck in, and then you complete unloading. Will that work?”
They both looked at each other and a silent pact was made. The concrete foreman motioned to the first concrete truck to move in. As the truck pulled into the lane, he jumped up to the footstep and spoke to the driver about our agreement. The truck continued to the back of the lane while the first steel truck followed close behind.
The work continued. There was no apologies, explanations, or discussions later. There was a intense challenge, an initial outburst, a solution, and the execution of the plan that benefited everyone.
I learned that day that conflict, and more importantly, bringing those natural conflicts to resolution was important to a job’s success. During my time there I experienced many more heated situations and they all resolved themselves in the same fashion.