Low water pressure at two fire hydrants on Liberty Street, a short residential road in downtown Ellsworth, hampered the local fire department’s efforts to extinguish a June 30 house fire, according to a department report.
The hydrants, one at the Chapel Street intersection and the other at the Grant Street intersection, have since been labeled as “out of service” by the city’s water department, which is responsible for maintaining and making repairs to public fire hydrants.
The fire plugs on Liberty Street are among a half-dozen hydrants in the city that currently are not in use for varying reasons, which the Bangor Daily News found after surveying several streets in the city’s urban core. The city has roughly 250 or so hydrants.
Those findings raise questions about how well the city would be able to respond if other properties catch fire in areas where hydrants are out of order.
Other hydrants that are out of service include one at the intersection of Main and South streets, near Rooster Brother kitchen supply store, and one near the intersection of Vittum and Boggy Brook roads, near the city’s Demeyer Field sports complex.
A fifth hydrant, on East Main Street at the end of the driveway to Birchwood Living Center, a residential home for adults with disabilities, also has been taken out of service. Another hydrant at the corner of Main and Water streets is not functioning because it was broken off by a passing vehicle, and is awaiting a replacement hydrant before it can be reactivated.
On June 30, the department tried to douse the fire at 14 Liberty St. with water from a hydrant at the eastern end of the street and then, using a different truck, with another hydrant at the western end, but at each location firefighters encountered “very low pressure” coming out of the hydrants, according to an internal fire department report on its response to the blaze. The BDN obtained a copy of the report by filing a Freedom of Access Act request with the department on July 31.
Additional trucks and water provided by the Hancock Volunteer Fire Department were able to bring the fire in the dense neighborhood under control in about 1 hour and 15 minutes, the report indicated. But firefighters had other challenges to deal with. At one point, power was prematurely restored to a downed power line that then damaged a house, and a Lamoine firefighter had to be treated for heat exhaustion, according to the report.
Michael Hill, whose company owns the property at 14 Liberty St. and four other abutting houses, said he has no complaints about the fire department’s response. Hill, who lives next door to where the fire occurred, said he reported it at 4:50 a.m. on June 30, but that the fire had advanced too far while he and his neighbors slept for the department to save the house, which was under renovation.
Even if the hydrants had had sufficient water pressure, “It wouldn’t have saved it,” Hill said. The house “went pretty quick.”
Hill said the cause of the fire was oil rags he and other people had been using to stain wood molding in the house a few days earlier. The rags had been disposed of in a plastic trash can on the porch, which caught fire from spontaneous combustion after the pile heated up.
Hill said he blames inadequate warnings from the maker of the stain for the fire, and would have disposed of the used rags differently if he had known they could combust.
But he said he is concerned about the low water pressure in the hydrants, and the fact that they have since been taken out of service. Hill said he had other complaints about his water service, including the taste and what he said are frequent boil orders caused by leaks. The inadequate hydrant coverage has now also made his list, he said.
“I’d like to see the water department improve water quality and get the hydrants working,” Hill said.
Ellsworth’s fire chief, Scott Guillerault, said the city is expected to pay the water department $460,000 this fiscal year, which began July 1, to use the hydrants spread throughout the city. The fire department uses the hydrants, but maintenance of the system is entirely the responsibility of the water department, he said.
“This money is supposed to ensure an adequate water supply for fire suppression throughout the areas these hydrants cover,” Guillerault said.
Reggie Winslow, superintendent of the water department, said the city has adequate funding for making all the needed repairs or replacements to its hydrants, and is keen on getting them back online as quickly as possible. The vast majority of hydrants in the city are in good working order, he said.
“Getting inoperable hydrants back online is a priority,” Winslow said. “Repairs are conducted as quickly as resources allow, often in phases depending on parts availability, traffic impacts, and budget constraints. Replacement hydrants have been ordered, and we are currently waiting for their delivery.
“The five hydrants will be back online by Sept. 1, barring any unforeseen circumstances,” he added.
