In New York and many other states, parking in front of a fire hydrant is illegal. Blocking access makes it harder for firefighters to respond to first. So, it’s within their right to smash car windows to reach the hydrant.

A video of an NYC firefighter went viral when a video of him smashing the windows of a Honda Accord parked near a fire hydrant to loop the hose through the window. He and his team were responding to a four-alarm fire in the Bronx this summer, and many wondered why he didn’t just move the hose around the front of the vehicle.

After all, the vehicle wasn’t blocking the hydrant. The Accord was just parked close by. The law says a vehicle must be 15ft from a hydrant – so the car was in violation – but some felt conflicted.

When reporters from Inside Edition approached Fire Marshall Michael Uttaro and showed him the video, he answered in support of the firefighter.

“Time is of the essence with fires and when there’s a vehicle or any obstruction to a hydrant, they have to overcome that obstruction,” he told the outlet. “I’m sure there’s several different methodologies of what they could’ve done. They chose that method and to be honest with you, I wouldn’t second-guess them.”

This instance wasn’t the Accord’s first hydrant violation

Reporters found that the owner of the Accord had 33 previous violations for parking in front of a fire hydrant. That means over a few years, they’ve paid $9,255 in fines – and racked up another one when it went viral.

Reporters were met with a blunt response when they told Uttaro about the previous hydrant violations. He laughed and said:

“Perhaps this individual had it coming to them.”

The comments section has jokes

After 2.3 million people watched the video and learned about the insane amount of previous violations, many took the opportunity to make jokes.

“Dude probably recognized the car for the 33rd time and had enough,” wrote a commenter.

Another viewer claiming to be a firefighter agreed with the Fire Marshall.

“As a former firefighter, access to the hydrant wasn’t blocked… However, if the guy is a frequent flyer for 33 violations, statistically it’s bound to happen sometime. They just sped up the timing. Good job, guys.”

Someone else said they switched sides when they heard how many tickets they had.

“At first I felt bad but once they said ’33 violations,’ yeah, that’s your final warning.”