GARY, INDIANA, HAS LONG AGO SLIPPED INTO AN ECONOMIC ABYSS.  Constantly struggling to fund their basic governmental services, the City Council is considering two new ordinances to squeeze the citizen’s wallets even further.

One measure that will be voted on next month proposes charging everybody who pays a water bill an additional $2.64 a month for fire hydrant rental. 

Terry L. Atherton, an Indiana American Water operations manager, said residential customers can expect to see the increase on their bill two or three months after the ordinance is passed. Customers with larger meters (businesses) can expect a bigger increase, he said.

The City Controller expects to raise $1.1 million a year by renting out their fire hydrants.  This comes on top of an 85% increase of homeowners’ sewer bills.

The other proposed ordinance would allow the Gary Fire Department to charge for services rendered at the scene of an accident other than ambulance service.

GFD photo

Half of the money collected from those services would go into a fund to support the Gary Fire Department. The rest would be considered “miscellaneous revenue.”

The Gary Post-Tribune has the STORY.
Gary Fire Department WEBSITE.

THIS MUST BE THE CHAMPION OF ALL FIRE HYDRANTS.  It’s located in Hong Kong and it looks like it has at least a 12-inch barrel on it.

photo by Steve Webel

By the way, this one doesn’t count….it’s just a sculpture (in Columbia, South Carolina) :

(What did you think I meant?)

TOPEKA, KANSAS, HAS TAKEN A NEW TACK ON FIRE HYDRANT problems.  Whereas Washington, D. C. and Tampa, Florida, among others, have been showing broken hydrants as being in service, the Topeka Water Department has been listing hydrants as broken when they are really operational.

When television station Channel 49 requested a print-out of the city’s 5,000 hydrants and their status, they found the records were completely unreliable.  One hydrant that has been out of service since June has actually been replaced with a new one, but their bureaucrats have trouble recording things like that.  When asked why the records were not being maintained, none of the water officials could give a reason.

Read the full story HERE.

THE ONTARIO ASSOCIATION OF FIRE CHIEFS has teamed up with an association of water-main engineers to warn the public of the dangers being created by old water pipes.  Many of the mains are leaking as much as 20% to 40% of their water and the corrosion of the older pipes has restricted their flow to the point where sprinkler systems cannot work effectively.

Many hydrants are thus delivering a reduced fire flow, yet the solution proposed by many municipalities is just to color-code the hydrants.

The Toronto Star has the ARTICLE.

Firegeezer points out that in Oct. 1973 the city of Chelsea, Massachusetts had a conflagration that destroyed 1/4 of the city’s industries and wiped out most of the downtown.  More than 1,000 firefighters from 3 states were needed to finally stop the blaze.  Investigation later disclosed that the major cause of the fire growing so large was because all the town’s water mains were so corroded that they has as little as 1 inch effective diameter interior opening.  In other words, no fire flow at all.

This is typical because politicians rarely spend money on “hidden” problems.  They like the visual things where they can get their picture taken.  We’re seeing a modern-day scenario playing out in Washington, D.C. with their broken fire hydrants.

EARLIER THIS WEEK WE REPORTED HERE that only 35% of the fire hydrants in Tampa were getting inspected within the two-year time frame that is specified.

This past Tuesday neighboring Hillsborough County had a house fire and the steamer cap on the nearest hydrant was frozen shut, necessitating a 900-ft. lay over to the next block.  Later inspection disclosed that the cap had jammed because it lacked lubrication.  Now here’s the kicker:  That hydrant was recorded as having been inspected less than two months ago.

Firegeezer thinks that now they will have to presume that none of the hydrants have been maintained.

The full story is in the St. Petersburg Times HERE.

THE TAMPA (FLORIDA) WATER DEPARTMENT is required to inspect fire hydrants at least bi-annually.  But they admit that only 35% of the hydrants are checked that frequently.  A state law requires annual inspections, but they miss that mark 86% of the time.

The Tampa Tribune has a lengthy report HERE.
Channel 8 has the VIDEO.

I ALWAYS WANTED TO DO THIS….just never got the chance.  But I know it’s happened quite a bit over the years.

Did you ever catch a hydrant like this?  If so, tell us about it in the Comments.  (I love the little pile of broken glass under the window.)

HERE’S A HINT:  HE WAS SECOND ONLY to Thomas Edison in the number of patents he personally held.

Need another clue?  Holly’s Fire Protection and Water System - an integrated system designed to deliver water under a steady pressure for public safety - brought him worldwide fame in 1863. The system was widely adapted throughout the United States and Canada, and established the standard upon which all current, water distribution systems as based.

Birdsill Holly

Getting close……Here’s where we rely on him:  In 1869, Holly was issued a patent, number 94749, for an “improved fire hydrant”.  He is the father of today’s modern fire hydrant.

Michael Daisy, freelance writer and history buff, wrote a good, concise article on Holly’s life and inventiveness.  It is posted HERE on Inventorspot.com and makes for some fine Sunday reading.

Some Holly hydrants

Selvey, Anderson and Masminster collections

AN OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA MAN who was walking with his wife to a neighborhood restaurant was killed when a car struck a nearby fire hydrant and it propelled into him.

The Oakland Tribune reports that:

When the SUV smashed into the hydrant, the impact broke the hydrant from the ground and launched it at a 45-degree angle toward Hernandez, who was about 10 feet away walking northbound on same side of the street. Police are not sure if the hydrant might have skipped off the pavement before hitting 5-foot-6 Hernandez in the back of his head.

“He was walking a bit ahead of his wife and then, all of a sudden, he is in the line of fire,” Bermudez said.

After hitting Hernandez, the hydrant still had enough velocity to ricochet through a fence before stopping.

The police report that if he had been one step ahead, or one step behind, it would have missed him.

Read the full story HERE.

Note:  I believe that Oakland has wet-barrel hydrants, which would explain the propulsion effect. - Firegeezer.

FOLLOWING THE FIRE AT THE Georgetown Public Library last month, it was disclosed that the two hydrants closest to the building were out of order.  The FD then reported that they have been spot-checking the hydrants around the city for two years and found that 10% of them are out of service.

The D.C. Water and Sewer Authority disputed the claim, but said that they would speed up repairs.  Now the Chief says that the 10% represents the number that are completely 10/7 and another 15% are in urgent need of repair.

Firegeezer says:  This is so typical of what is going on in the large cities these days.  The politicians use the city agencies as patronage dumping grounds and hold nobody accountable for their failures.  The only things that ever get fixed are the things that are clearly visible to the voters.  Once again, it’s a case of putting their political careers ahead of what is good for the citizens.