When an accidental fire burned a mobile home recently in Belton, fire officials said their efforts were hampered by a lack of fire hydrants at the mobile home community of Springdale Lake Estates.
Firefighters had to lay down roughly 1,300 feet of fire hose to reach the nearest hydrant. A fire truck carries roughly 1,000 feet of hose.
Belton Fire Marshal Jason Webb said some of city's older communities don't conform to the new standards for fire hydrants. In Belton, fire hydrants are placed every 600 feet in newer residential developments. That means firefighters walk a maximum of 300 feet to reach any hydrant.
'It's very hard to go back and force a developer to upgrade,' Webb said.
The problem isn't restricted to Belton. Independence faces similar issues.
Webb said that adding hydrants to a community can help increase property values and lower insurance costs.
'Where there have been upgrades in the older neighborhoods, it's been done by the city,' he said.
Webb said city officials are working on a master water plan that would identify areas where water flow needs to be improved. That could translate into adding fire hydrants or increasing the size of water mains to boost water pressure. The plan should be finished in a few months.
In Independence, Assistant Fire Chief Curt Sevage said adding hydrants to older neighborhoods is expensive. The city wouldn't add hydrants simply to conform to the current standard. A hydrant runs from $3,000 to $3,500, Sevage said. Then, workers must dig up the ground to add to the water main.
However, Independence has a water department program that gradually increases the number of fire hydrants in older parts of the city. When the city replaces an old water main that is 2 inches or smaller with a main that is at least 6 inches, the workers also add hydrants so that they are spaced 600 feet apart in residential areas or 300 feet apart in commercial areas.
Most recently, Independence replaced the water mains in the area of 32nd Street and Blue Ridge Boulevard and added nine hydrants to the neighborhood.
