By Terry Hillig
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
Copyright 2006 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
STAUNTON, Ill. — Firefighters can’t use about 100 of this city’s 250 fire hydrants, including the ones that are closest to the firehouse and City Hall.
Staunton officials say they’re working to correct the source of the problem, an aged water system that has not been updated through the years.
Public Works Director Hank Fey said most of the water system was built in 1926 with 4-inch main lines. He said mains at least 6 inches in diameter were required for firefighting today.
Staunton is a city of 5,000 in southeastern Macoupin County, 40 miles northeast of downtown St. Louis.
“It’s putting everyone in danger,” said Staunton resident Cletus Notter.
Notter showed a reporter “not in service” tags on the three hydrants nearest City Hall, two of the three hydrants nearest St. Michael’s Catholic Church and school and a hydrant outside the Staunton Fire Protection District firehouse. There are many more such tags on hydrants all around the city.
Fey said most of the hydrants were tagged not because they were broken but because the mains didn’t deliver enough water for firefighting. He said 4-inch mains -- or 6-inch mains with significant corrosion -- could collapse if used with modern fire pumpers.
“They can pump water faster than the lines can feed it,” Fey said.
Fire Chief Rick Haase said the city was responsible for maintenance of the water system and the hydrants. He said the department had plans in place for fighting fires where hydrants couldn’t be used.
“We know where the hydrants are good,” he said. “We can lay an above-ground ‘main’ with hose.”
And, Haase said, much of the 32-square-mile district is outside the city and has no water service, so its volunteer firefighters are used to hauling water to fires when necessary.
But more working hydrants would provide a greater measure of safety, he said.
Haase said that he had urged city officials for several years to deal with the problem and that they were doing so.
Notter has no complaints about the Fire Department.
“This is an undue burden on an excellent fire department,” he said.
Haase, who doubles as fire chief at the ConocoPhillips Wood River Refinery, was named Fire Chief magazine’s Volunteer Fire Chief of the Year in 2004.
Fey said three major upgrades of the water system were planned in the next few years.
Fred Stein, who has been mayor of Staunton about a year after two years on the City Council, said city officials did not pay enough attention to the water system in years past.
“We’re paying the piper now,” he said.