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A Cicero Fire Department engine hit a portable basketball hoop in 2000 that was sticking out in the roadway. The department is working with the town to create a town ordinance that would prohibit the hoops near the road.

(Provided photo)

A Cicero Fire Department engine was damaged in 2000 when it hit a basketball hoop that was sticking out into the roadway.

CICERO, N.Y. -- The Cicero Fire Department wants residents to stop leaving basketball hoops at the edge of the roadway.

Fire department officials are working with the town of Cicero to create a new ordinance to prohibit residents from leaving the portable hoops where they pose a safety hazard to traffic.

The Highway Law of the State of New York, Article 11, Section 319, prohibits obstructions that interfere with the use of the highway for public travel. But the town doesn't currently have an ordinance that addresses basketball hoops near the roadway, according to Cicero Supervisor Mark Venesky.

Venesky said the ordinance would allow town code enforcers to warn residents about the hazards that the hoops pose to fire trucks and other vehicles.

Fire department officials said they've experienced firsthand the dangers caused by basketball hoops being left at the edge of the street.

In 2000, Cicero Engine #3 was responding to an alarm on Jerusalem Drive when a passing school bus was approaching in the oncoming lane. The driver of the engine was unable to avoid a collision with a basketball hoop that was sticking out into the roadway.

As a result of this, the rim of the basketball hoop hit the passenger side of the windshield breaking it and causing the engine to not make it to the original alarm.

In 2010, Cicero Engine #2 was responding to an alarm on Alizarin Avenue during the evening hours. The driver of the engine was unable to see a basketball hoop sticking out into the road as it struck the passenger side mirror breaking it and causing additional damage to the vehicle.

"In both these instances, we are fortunate that no one was injured and it was unfortunate that damage was caused to both vehicles requiring them to be repaired and placed out of service," according to fire officials.