A Houston County man whose home was destroyed by a fire in March says confusion and miscommunication by firefighters allowed the blaze to burn unimpeded for 60 to 90 minutes.
Clyde Mathe Jr. said he collapsed in hopelessness on the ground shortly after he arrived at the fire scene at 9:50 p.m. March 26 to find his home engulfed in flames and a firefighter standing nearby with a hose pointed at the fire and no water coming out of the hose.
"I pretty much said in my mind there's no hope of saving anything because there's no water on the fire," said Mathe.
But Houston County Fire Chief Jimmy Williams said the home, located at 113 Sherry Lane, was already too far gone to save when the first fire truck arrived eight minutes after the fire was reported to 911 at 9:19 p.m. March 26. He disputes Mathe's claim that no water was on the fire for a period of 60 to 90 minutes.
However, Williams did say there was a 5- to 15-minute window when there was no water on the fire and that may have contributed to the loss of nearby storage sheds and a vehicle on Mathe's property. Firefighters had trouble locating the closest hydrant and ran out of water stored on the first two fire trucks responding, he said.
Mathe, 55, a computer specialist at Robins Air Force Base, said the storage buildings and his girlfriend's car were not on fire when he arrived. Distraught over the situation, Mathe said he moved away and watched the fire from a distance. When he returned 30 or 40 minutes later, firefighters were putting water on the grass of a neighbor's yard but there was still no water on the main fire.
Mathe, a ham radio operator, said he suffered a total loss - his house and several storage buildings and their contents burned, as did his garage, a camper inside and his girlfriend's car parked outside. He said the damage was estimated at more than $350,000, and that his insurance covered less than half of that.
A review of the 911 center's tapes, which recorded radio traffic the night of the fire, indicates that at least 30 minutes lapsed between the arrival of the first Houston County fire truck and connection to fire hydrants on Crestview Drive and Booth Road.
Williams said when he arrived on the scene 18 minutes after the fire was reported, water was still flowing from two trucks capable of dumping 1,500 gallons of water combined. At some point, Williams said the trucks did run out of water and there was no water on the fire because the hydrants were not yet connected.
Williams said firefighters had difficulty locating the nearest fire hydrant, which was not on the direct route to the fire. When it was located on Crestview Drive it was one-fifth of a mile away. Hoses had to be connected, which meant responding fire trucks had to be moved and realigned in order to string the connecting hoses.
Mathe complained that firefighters also did not have enough water pressure. Williams said there was initially not as much water pressure as firefighters would have liked but there was not a problem with the water lines. Water pressure was lost from stringing hoses from the fire trucks to the two fire hydrants, but the fire trucks are equipped to boost water pressure, which was done, Williams said.
Mathe also said the fire department did not respond to the fire with the proper manpower and equipment. Williams noted response was immediate and that only three full-time firefighters were on duty. Williams acknowledged that it took time to mobilize the primarily volunteer force, but he said that isn't uncommon because volunteers do not staff the stations 24 hours a day. Ten firefighters were on the scene within eight minutes of the fire being reported, according to the fire incident report.
Also, firefighters were battling multiple problems - from a fallen, live power line to explosions of diesel fuel stored on Mathe's property and a 50-foot radio communications tower that toppled during the fire, said Williams.
Sherry Gilliam, who lives across the street from Mathe at 114 Sherry Lane, said she believes at least part of Mathe's house could have been saved and certainly the storage sheds and vehicle.
Gilliam questioned whether the first truck dispatched was the appropriate size because it was small. Williams said the first truck to arrive actually carried more water than the second truck that arrived. The first truck carried 1,000 gallons and the second 500 gallons, he said.
Gilliam said there are not enough hydrants in the neighborhood, which is a mix of residential homes, trailers and apartments. The neighborhood, which is partly in the county and partly in the city of Warner Robins, was in existence before the county's development regulations went into effect, said Tim Andrews, the county's planning and zoning director.
Mathe's property, where he has lived for about 30 years, is in the county. The closest hydrant is 1,060 feet away on Crestview Drive. The county now requires fire hydrants to be placed no more than
1,000 feet apart. The regulation went into effect in 1976 when the county adopted development regulations, said Andrews.
The state does not regulate the location of fire hydrants but leaves that up to the local governments, said Wayne Whitaker, spokesman for state fire marshal's office.
Mathe said he doesn't understand why new areas of the county are afforded hydrants at closer intervals, but none has been added to his and older neighborhoods over the years.
Steve Engle, Houston County administration director, said the water lines in the neighborhood are city water lines and not county water lines. He said the county has no jurisdiction over the lines or hydrants. But Engle said it's not unique for older developments to have infrastructure that does not meet newer guidelines established by the Houston County Commission or the Warner Robins City Council.
Warner Robins Mayor Donald Walker said it wouldn't make sense to place hydrants on the 2-inch lines that dominate the neighborhood because there isn't enough water pressure or volume to support hydrants.
However, the Crestview hydrant is on a water line large enough to support a hydrant, said Walker.
While Walker said he's sympathetic to the county residents, he said they also chose to live in the county and not the city, which funds a full-time firefighting force. Walker noted that the city was "gracious" to allow the developer of the subdivision to connect to city water lines when a lot of areas of the county are still on wells.
Nonetheless, Walker said there have been discussions among himself and Houston County Chairman Ned Sanders since the Shirley Lane fire about the possibility of allowing the city to respond simultaneously with the county to areas that are a mix of city and county property.
Onita Page, who lives next door to Mathe at 115 Sherry Lane, expressed confidence in the county firefighters who responded to the fire. The fire set part of her yard ablaze.
"I couldn't see anything that they did wrong," said Page.
Mathe said he thinks that someone ought to be held accountable so that the same situation doesn't happen again. But Williams said firefighters could not have responded differently - unless the department was full-time and had a full staff at every station and the neighborhood had fire hydrants every 1,000 feet. While he said it's unfortunate that Mathe suffered the loss, firefighters did the best they could.
