Water from one such pond was used Sunday to save a single-family home in Pomello Park after it was struck by lightning.
The home sustained more than $100,000 in damage when an attic fire burned through the roof.
But the house could have been a total loss were it not for the pond on the property that supplied 15,000 gallons of the 20,000 gallons needed to fight the fire, said Myakka City Fire Rescue Chief Bobby Dodge.
Roughly 75 percent of Myakka City houses do not have a fire pond within 1,000 feet of the home, making firefighting more difficult, said Myakka City Fire District Capt. Dan Cacchiotti.
Since many rural homes are out of the range of pressurized water hydrants, if a rural home doesn't have a nearby pond, firefighters have to form a line of trucks, then connect to a water source.
"This is what usually handicaps us," Dodge said. "If the house is more than 1,000 feet from the water source we have to combine multiple trucks, and that takes time."
This was the second house fire in the past two weeks at Pomello Park, near the future home of Myakka City's next fire station. On June 11, a three-bedroom, two-bath single-family home burned to the ground.
That house did not have a pond nearby, fire officials said.
"The house was fully involved when we got there," Cacchiotti said, speaking of the June 11 blaze. "It had progressed farther than Sunday's fire. If they would have had a fire pond it would have helped us, but I don't think the outcome would have been different. That house was fully involved and beyond the point of saving."
At the fire on June 11, firefighters had to shuttle water from 274th Street, three or four miles from the fire scene, Cacchiotti said.
Residents can excavate a fire pond for roughly $2,000 and can get an information packet on construction by contacting the Myakka City fire marshal, Dodge said.
Being an older subdivision, Pomello Park is not required to have fire ponds, which can also be equipped with dry hydrants, pipes built down into ponds with fittings that connect to fire hoses, allowing firefighters to pump out water.
New subdivisions going up in East Manatee are required to have a dry hydrant every 800 feet since each fire truck carries 1,000 feet of hose.
No one was injured in Sunday's blaze, which occurred at 5:11 p.m. at 24508 79th Ave. E., about a mile from the intersection of County Road 675 and State Road 70, Dodge said.
The owner, Joseph Potter, was home at the time, heard the lightning strike and smelled smoke, Dodge said. He immediately called the fire department and vacated the premises.
The lightning damaged a propane line that ran through the attic, resulting in spilled propane catching fire. Firefighters from Myakka City, Sarasota County and Braden River responded with seven pieces of equipment.
"Although there was not a huge amount of actual fire damage, everything had soot or heat damage," Dodge said. "We did save a lot of their possessions, including cabinets, china, jewelry and family heirlooms."
Firefighters attacked the fire from the interior and pulled down the ceiling to extinguish the fire.
"The house is definitely repairable," Dodge said. "It will need a new roof. The garage was never involved. It was isolated to the main body of the house. The foundation is still in good shape."
