Homeowners expect the fire department to have the resources to battle blazes when they erupt, but some residents are concerned that certain neighbourhood fire hydrants have been broken for years.
During the recent city council meeting, Coun. Doug Blanc told city administration that a hydrant near the corner of 14th Avenue Northwest and Caribou Street West has an “out of order” sign, while someone told him the hydrant had been broken for nearly three years.
Meanwhile, he spoke to a friend and learned a recent fire on Warner Street destroyed a garage. The friend said when firefighters arrived, they attempted to connect to several fire hydrants before finding one that worked. They then doused the blaze.
Blanc wondered how safe neighbourhoods are if several fire hydrants are not working, while he wondered how many were broken and what city administration’s plan was to address these deficiencies.
Rod Montgomery, fire chief and acting public works director, said he didn’t know how many hydrants were out of service and assumed the broken ones were in a queue along with other water and sewer infrastructure.
Continuing, he said the engineering department flushes water lines and hydrants and checks that infrastructure on a rotational basis. He acknowledged that there is a process where hydrants sit for long periods without testing and wouldn’t argue that point.
“We’ve all seen the notices on hydrants (saying they are) out of order. And certainly, for people in those areas, it’s a justified concern, and for the fire department as well,” he stated. “Obviously, everyone wants everything to work.”
Montgomery added that the fire department’s pumper trucks carry 1,000 gallons per vehicle, which are used when a hydrant is out of service.
Bevan Harlton, director of engineering, said he didn’t have a list of how many hydrants were not functioning but noted his team had replaced six year-to-date. All those hydrant replacements occurred on Duffield Street during cast iron pipe replacement.
With the number of water main breaks decreasing, Harlton thought it was time for public works and engineering to combine their efforts on addressing hydrants and focus on that operational work separately.
One-sided street parking
One-sided parking on narrow streets goes into effect soon, including on the 1100 and 1200 blocks of Second Avenue Northwest on the west side, Coun. Jamey Logan said. However, since three fire hydrants are on the opposite side, he wondered why the city wouldn’t enforce parking on that side, especially since the road is flat.
Montgomery explained that when city administration reviewed the program’s implementation, it believed consistency was one issue. However, there was a variance with this street since there were two hydrants on the corners and one was mid-block.
Moreover, that mid-block hydrant is near a homeowner’s driveway, so city administration didn’t think that piece of infrastructure would be a parking issue, he continued.
“You already have the buffer of the driveway, so no one can park there within three metres of each side,” Montgomery added. “Given the other blocks, there can always be an argument for many variances. But we just felt it works, it still works, and it’s manageable.”
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Aug. 28.
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