The curb doesn’t have to be red. You should just know not to park in front of a fire hydrant, because you never know when there might be… a fire.

A BMW 5-Series Touring driver in Boston didn’t heed the hydrant and made life difficult for firefighters trying to put out a three-alarm fire in an apartment building on Sunday, according to Boston.com. This hampered efforts to put out the blaze, a Boston Fire spokesman said, because the BMW blocked the hydrant in a way that stopped water from flowing through the hose.

The fire in the South End neighborhood of the city displaced five adults and two children in three apartments, and two firefighters sustained minor injuries.

A similar incident happened in Boston earlier this year when firefighters smashed the windows of, you guessed it, a BMW that was blocking a hydrant in order to access it during a fire. On Twitter, Boston Fire said there was “nothing to be gained from going through” this particular BMW in order to get to the water as soon as possible, and that they “don’t intentionally damage things.”

Speaking to The Boston Globe, the owner of the BMW was apparently distraught and rattled by the incident, and even visited the local fire station to apologize. But he also said he’d left the BMW parked there since Thursday and thinks he missed seeing the hydrant.

But seriously, do you need to be reminded not to park near fire hydrants? The fire department shouldn’t have to Tweet your license plate for this driver to feel the shame.

By Zac Estrada

Photos: Boston Fire Department via Twitter