Texas Firefighters Say Hydrants Too Spread Out

Firefighters said around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, Santos Luevano, a man in his 80s, had placed a portable heater right next to his bed at his home in 129000 block of Grand River in Sparks.

The bed caught on fire after the heater came in contact with the blankets.

Santos' family lives in the home next door; his granddaughter called 911 and when firefighters arrived, they say they had problems locating a fire hydrant.

The nearest one was blocks away, which prevented firefighters from putting out the flames as quickly as they would have liked.

With more people now using portable heaters to stay warm, firefighters want to remind people to be careful when using them.

"They need to be cautious where they place the water heaters and where they have all the blankets," said Robert Cerecerez of the Socorro Volunteer Fire Department.
"I know it gets cold and they put the heaters close to the bed and unfortunately the blankets are flammable."

Luevano, who was unhurt, will be able to stay with family until he's able to find a new place of his own.

Family members of the victim say they wonder if more could have been done to save his belongings.

Julia Guevarra said she's very frustrated with the Socorro Volunteer Fire Department. She lives right next door to her father in Sparks, the man whose mobile home burned down. She and other family members jumped in with water hoses to put out the fire, but the fire department made them leave the scene. She said they weren't much help because they ran out of water.

Socorro Fire Department Chief Robert Cerecerez said that wasn't what happened.

"The local fire hydrants here in Sparks are spread out like a mile, about half a mile apart, the closest fire hydrant we were able to locate was half a mile up the hill and that made it difficult," said Cerecerez.

KFOX called up the Lower Valley Water District, which is the entity in charge of maintaining and placing fire hydrants in the east part of the county.

The engineering manager, Fernando Sanchez, said that fire hydrants should be placed at a 1,000-foot radius from each other in rural areas and 500 feet apart in residential areas.

According to residents and the fire department, firefighters hooked up to a fire hydrant on Bryn Mawer, just up the hill from the home that burned. The distance was measured by using one of the KFOX vehicles. The odometer read .2 miles, which translates to a little over 1,000 feet.

But Sanchez said there are other hydrants that were closer to the home.

Sanchez said he encourages fire departments to express their concerns to the Water District. But he also said firefighters should study where hydrants are so they can work more efficiently .