By Dave Statter
STATter911
WASHINGTON — STATter911.com has learned that on Saturday, three days after a fire destroyed a multi-million dollar mansion in Northwest Washington, the DC Fire & EMS Department quietly moved to partially implement one of the recommendations from a 2007 report that looked at water supply issues in the Nation’s Capital. The order from Assistant Chief of Operations Lawrence Schultz provides a driver-operator for two of the city’s six water supply engine companies and outlines how the units will respond on the initial dispatch to fires in two large areas of the city.
The information provided by sources to STATter911.com was confirmed Wednesday evening by Deputy Chief Kenneth Crosswhite.
Prior to this order being issued, none of the unit’s were staffed and relied on other fire companies to respond to the station in each battalion where the units are housed. The water supply companies that will now be staffed around-the-clock are Engine 55, located at Engine 21 at 1763 Lanier Place, NW (Fifth Battalion) and Engine 53, located at Engine 19 at 2813 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE (Third Battalion).
DC Fire & EMS Department Chief Dennis Rubin said last week it took two hours Wednesday evening for firefighters to secure a reliable water supply to handle the fire at 3030 Chain Bridge Road, NW. The lack of available water at the fire was very similar to water issues the department faced during a blaze that destroyed a large apartment building on October 1, 2007. That four-alarm fire on Adams Mill Road highlighted problems between the fire department and the DC Water & Sewer Authority (WASA).
A consultant’s report ordered by the DC Fire & EMS Department after the 2007 fire addressed the water supply companies in two of its recommendations:
DC Fire & EMS Department should seek funding to operate the water supply engines as additional fully-staffed engine companies.
Specific engine companies (including the water supply engines) should be equipped with 5-inch hose and designated as high-volume water supply companies.
The morning after the Chain Bridge Road fire Chief Rubin told STATter911.com the funds have not been available to follow these recommendations.
As STATter911.com first reported yesterday, the 2007 report by fire service consultant J. Gordon Routley was not formally presented to the DC City Council during a hearing looking into the Adams Mill Road fire.
According to Saturday’s order, Engine 55 will respond on all box alarms in Northwest Washington in areas covered by Engines 5, 20, 21, 28, 29 and 31.
Engine 53 will respond similarly in areas of Southeast and Northeast Washington covered by Engines 15, 19, 25, 27, 30, 32, 33.
The water supply company will respond as a two piece engine company with the engine in the house where the unit is assigned when that engine company is available and is not part of the initial dispatch. The water supply companies are to stage two blocks from the incident and await orders from the incident commander.
The order says the dispatch of the units will not be part of the computer aided dispatch system and the companies should be self-dispatched on the appropriate box alarms.
Until now, water supply companies were only automatically dispatched on a second-alarm and on the initial alarm in a small number of areas of the city where there were known water supply issues. One of those locations is the campus of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital.