Library Fire Exposes Problems With Hydrants
What if there was a fire .... and the hydrants were all out of order? Don'tcha simply HATE it when that happens? They sure do in Washington DC-- Where the failure of the hydrants slowed firefighters tremendously.
WASHINGTON - The fire at the Georgetown Library has exposed problems with some fire hydrants in the city.
Dozens of them aren't in working order, including the two closest to the library, where some irreplaceable documents and artwork were destroyed.
The D.C. Water and Sewer Authority is in charge of more than 9,000 hydrants in the city, and the agency has identified 53 hydrants across the city that are in need of repair. Some leak, some have defective parts, and others don't produce water.
Officials say it's hard to keep up on inspections, so the fire department plans to work with WASA to do more checks.
Fire and union officials say the faulty hydrants often aren't discovered until a fire breaks out. Firefighters wound up using hydrants that were about two blocks from the burning building.
Officials say the broken hydrants slowed the response of some units by a few minutes but didn't have a major effect on the blaze.
This is why many fire departments have their own hydrant maintenance and testing program, such as the Charlottesville, VA FD. Click here to read their SOP.
