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Hydrant Blitz Puts 68 Out Of Service

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By ELLEN GEDALIUS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 9, 2007

Updated: 10/09/2007 11:51 pm

Previous Coverage How A Hydrant Works | Video: Hydrant Safety

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Some Hydrants Missing Inspections

TAMPA - Sixty-eight fire hydrants have been taken out of service after city water workers found problems with them during an inspection blitz.

The 68 are in addition to 13 hydrants taken out of service several weeks ago. The water department is working to repair or replace those hydrants so that they work during a fire. The fire department has been notified of the problems so firefighters can use other nearby hydrants during a blaze.

The county last week finished its own inspection program. About 30 of the almost 4,000 hydrants inspected were in such poor condition they needed to be replaced.

The city is almost finished with its two-month hydrant check program, launched after a Tampa Tribune story in August showed the city's water department had fallen far behind inspecting hydrants. The analysis showed that the department had failed to test about seven out of every 10 hydrants since July 2005, despite a department goal to inspect hydrants every two years.

The city also didn't appear to be following a state law that requires hydrants be inspected annually. Tampa failed to make annual inspections on nearly 11,000 hydrants.

Mayor Pam Iorio told the water department to fix the problem. Director Brad Baird vowed to have workers check to make sure water would flow from the hydrants. He set an eight-week timetable.

Of the 12,467 hydrants needing checks, the city had completed 11,501 of them as of Friday, leaving roughly 900 to go, said Eli Franco, the department's consumer affairs manager. The city hopes to finish the job within a week.

"We missed it by about a week," Franco said. "Nine weeks is just as acceptable to us as eight."

The city found various problems with the hydrants: Some had been hit by cars, some had broken stems, faulty valves, missing caps, leaks or other problems.

At the midway point, water workers had found problems with 61 hydrants. A total number of problem hydrants was unavailable Tuesday.

Hydrants hit by cars, hydrants with broken stems and hydrants with faulty valves are put out of service. More minor problems, such as a hydrant needing paint or having small leaks, don't need immediate attention.

Franco points out a hydrant might be working just fine until it gets hit by a car.

Workers accrued about $3,000 in overtime. The city plans to contract the service out in the future.

In Hillsborough County, a fire hydrant in Northdale failed when firefighters tried to battle a blaze in August. The hydrant had recently been inspected by the company the county contracted with for inspections. County commissioners fired the contractor, and the water department set out to do its own inspections. Workers started in mid-September and finished last week, about a week ahead of schedule.

"We did it a lot faster than we hoped to get it done," said Pam Greene, a water department spokeswoman.

The inspections came with a price: about $45,000 in overtime.

The county's water workers inspected 3,904 hydrants. Of those, 713 required additional maintenance. Problems ranged from the serious, such as replacing the entire hydrant, to the minor, such as installing new caps or applying a fresh coat of paint.

The roughly 30 hydrants that needed to be replaced have been.

Reporter Ellen Gedalius can be reached at (813) 259-7679 or egedalius@tampatrib.com.

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