Fairbury Looks to Keep Hydrants from “Going Downhill”

By Gordon HopkinsFire hydrants are one of the most vital tools firefighters possess in the battle against fires. As such, it is vital those tools remain operational. When the system starts having troubles, as seems to be happening in Fairbury, it is a cause for alarm. Fairbury Fire Chief Judd Stewart attended a meeting of the Law Enforcement Committee last week and he was blunt in his assessment, “Our municipal water system, our hydrant system, seems to be going downhill for lack of better words. We've had several fires in the last six months where we've experienced at least one hydrant failure during the fires. Either it was out of service before we got there and hadn't been repaired or, during the operation, we lost water from it or, after, we'd had a failure when we were breaking down our system. So, I've been in contact with Dennis (Gaston, City of Fairbury Water Superintendent) on several of them. So, he's well aware of what we've experienced this year so far.”City Councilperson Bradley Kuzelka asked, “I thought those were supposed to be inspected?” Stewart confirmed the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Recommended Practice for Fire Flow Testing and Marking of Hydrants requires regular testing, “NFPA 291 requires a five year flow test. But they also require an annual inspection.” “We've got some fire hydrants that don't have enough pressure,” said City Councilperson Phil Rogge. “And I know last year they had, I believe, 43 of them that they intended to replace and it just, you know, it never got done.”Stewart told FJN this week, “Basically it all comes down to the fact that it's an aging system and we're going to start seeing more of this.” Stewart said that the fire department and the city is working together to ensure, going forward, hydrants will be maintained pro-actively, rather than waiting until there are problems, “I believe they (city staff) are repairing them as we report them, but we're trying to work on a plan moving forward with doing preventative maintenance and inspections. I've talked to a couple outside resources that are willing to come meet with the water and superintendent and myself to discuss some options for a third party taking care of that.” Fairbury Mayor Spencer Brown echoed Stewart, “We are currently looking into options to get ahead of the inspections, including locating a third party service that inspects and certifies fire hydrants.”Until that happens, Stewart noted the fire department is, “changing our response for structure fires to include a water tender every time just in case we run into hydrant issues.”

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