Broken Hydrants Hinder PA Firefighters
Source The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa. (TNS)
Two malfunctioning hydrants that hindered Carbondale firefighters during a blaze Sunday morning were last checked in June and worked fine, according to Pennsylvania American Water Co.
The hydrants near the fire at 39 Canaan St., as well as the other hydrants in the city, are included in an annual check of company-owned fire hydrants, which number about 7,700 in the region, company spokeswoman Susan Turcmanovich said. Hydrant checks begin in April and run for about three months.
“We tested them in June and we didn’t have any issues,” Ms. Turcmanovich said.
The city’s Fire Department found an issue Sunday.
Two hydrants did not work properly when firefighters tried to tap them at the 4:15 a.m. fire. To get water to the fire, crews ran 800 feet of hose from another hydrant on Belmont Street.
The home was damaged heavily, and one man was treated for smoke inhalation.
“It was a low, low, low flow,” Fire Chief Chris Pezak said.
The city sold its hydrants to the water company for $1 at least three years ago, Mayor Justin Taylor said. The city would see a cost savings from passing maintenance responsibility to the water company. Maintaining, testing and repairing hydrants would cost the city thousands of dollars annually.
“We felt that it was a good move to help eliminate cost on our end,” Mr. Taylor said.
The sale, though, came with some pushback from the Fire Department.
Tom Brennan, the fire chief at the time, preferred the Fire Department watch its own hydrants rather than outsource the job to the water company, which has several other municipalities to maintain, Mr. Brennan said.
“This way we know what’s going on,” he said.
Ms. Turcmanovich said the water utility follows its protocol of informing fire officials when it discovers a dead hydrant by contacting the Lackawanna County Communications Center, which then relays the news to fire departments.
The water company was working to fix the hydrants in Carbondale on Monday, Ms. Turcmanovich said. Replacements are scheduled for today.
The water company owns hydrants in each Lackawanna County municipality it services, except Carbondale Twp. and Dickson City.
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