By Michael Jones
Charleston Daily Mail (West Virginia)
Copyright 2006 Charleston Newspapers
RIPLEY, W.V. — A house fire that left a Ripley family homeless is stirring a debate about why firefighters could not find a hydrant closer to the blaze.
Ripley volunteer firefighters connected their hoses to a hydrant more than a quarter-mile away, although there were at least four positioned closer, city officials said.
No one was home at the time of the Monday morning fire, but homeowner Michael Stanley’s family of four lost several dogs, cats, birds and chinchillas. Firefighters were able to save one cat from the burning home on First Avenue.
The cause of the fire is believed to have been a floor furnace that malfunctioned.
City officials, firefighters and neighbors now question if miscommunication led to wasted time in battling the fire.
The first engines arrived on the scene minutes after neighbors spotted the fire, but firefighters were unable to find a hydrant located a few hundred feet from the house that was labeled on their city street map. Fire Chief Rick Gobble said that forced them to backtrack to the street’s intersection with Charleston Drive to hook up their hoses.
The hydrant firefighters first sought had been removed in 1990 when a car backed into it. The city never replaced it.
Mary Stanley, Michael Stanley’s mother, placed blame on city officials for not making efforts to replace the hydrant or inform the department of the change.
“They could have died in there,” Stanley said. “My daughter-in-law could have been in there had she not dropped the kids off at school and gone to her mother’s. It could have been any other neighbors on this street.”
Michael and Kellie Stanley and their two children, Celena and Joey, are staying with family members at a nearby home. They could not be contacted Tuesday.
“It frightens me because that could have been my house,” neighbor Jo Ann Knuckles said. “There should be more communication between the fire department and the city.”
City Superintendent Tim King said there are at least four other hydrants closer than the one that was used, located nearly 2,000 feet away. He pointed to one just 250 feet away at the back of the dead-end street, although firefighters said that hydrant would have been too difficult to reach with their trucks.
“I can’t speak for the fire department or who made the decision of what one to hook to,” King said. “I thought they knew where all the fireplugs were. I don’t know what else to do. I can’t tell them which one to hook up to.”
While the hydrant King pointed out actually was disabled more than 15 years ago, there was another near it that apparently went unnoticed by firefighters. Gobble, one of the first to arrive at the scene, acknowledged firefighters may have missed the available hydrant — in fact, parked cars were blocking it from view Tuesday afternoon - and could not waste valuable time searching for it.
“I understand everyone is upset, but I’m not going to get into a spitting battle on whose fault it was,” Gobble said. “I did what I did and I would not change any of it.”
The size of the fire engines also made it nearly impossible to maneuver the vehicles to find a closer hydrant.
“It’s hard to take time and jockey vehicles around,” said assistant Fire Chief Chuck Hitt.
Neighbors believe there must be better communication between city officials and firefighters on which hydrants work and which need to be repaired or replaced. The maintenance aspect falls to the city, Gobble said.
“We have multiple hydrants across the town that are busted,” he said.
Gobble said the added hose length did not affect the water pressure or their performance and that the house was fully engulfed when they arrived. Neighbors reported smoke billowing from the windows and flames shooting out of the roof.
The fire chief still would like to see the city take the initiative on fixing broken hydrants and informing the department of the ones that are temporarily deactivated.