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City Finds 61 Faulty Hydrants In Checks

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By ELLEN GEDALIUS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 16, 2007

Updated: 09/15/2007 11:45 pm

TAMPA - About halfway through a program to inspect every fire hydrant, city water workers have found 61 faulty hydrants.

More than 5,400 hydrants had been inspected as of Sept. 7, the most recent date for which data were available. Of the 61 hydrants with problems, 48 have been repaired, leaving 13 still requiring follow-up attention, said Eli Franco, the city's water department spokesman.

In August, the city's water department pledged to check about 11,000 fire hydrants in eight weeks.

Midway into that program, water department officials say they are on target to complete the job on time.

The rapid inspection program followed a Tampa Tribune story showing that the city's water department had failed to test about seven out of every 10 hydrants since July 2005. That's despite a department goal to inspect hydrants every two years.

The Tribune analysis of 12,791 hydrants also found that the city didn't appear to be following a state law that requires hydrant owners ensure annual inspections.

In Tampa, the water department failed to hit that mark on nearly 11,000 hydrants.
Mayor Pam Iorio asked the water department to deal with the problem.

'When something comes up, I say fix it,' Iorio said. 'Don't let it happen again.'
Water department workers now are verifying that each hydrant operates and is able to deliver water when needed. That means they are focusing on looking at the key components of hydrants, namely stems and valves.

They are not doing full inspections because water department employees do not have the proper certification, Franco said.

So far, the city has incurred roughly $3,000 in overtime. Employees worked the first weekend, and then the water department assembled a team to test hydrants during the regular workweek. Workers check as many as 50 hydrants a day.

The city also is trying to determine how to best contract out the service in the future.

Inspections need to be conducted by certified fire safety inspectors, firefighters who take additional training classes, or contractors with the appropriate certification, Franco said.

The city has tossed around the idea of shifting the inspection responsibility to the fire department, but no decisions have been made.

Also, the city could decide to hire a private company to do the inspections while continuing to maintain and repair the hydrants in-house.
Water department officials also are contemplating how to credit Tampa Fire Rescue and Hillsborough County for the hundreds of thousands of dollars those agencies have given to the water department for maintenance service that wasn't done.

Tampa Fire Rescue pays the water department about $364,000 annually for hydrant upkeep. Hillsborough County - which has several thousand hydrants in the city's service area - pays about $222,000.

The issue caught the attention of other jurisdictions.

In Zephyrhills, the fire chief embarked on a testing program following media reports on hydrant inspections and public concern.

Firefighters started inspecting the city's 800 hydrants at the end of August. So far, they have checked more than 250 hydrants and found problems at just a couple of them. The problems have been fixed.

In Hillsborough County, a fire hydrant failed when firefighters tried to use it during a blaze in Northdale. Since then, the county has terminated its contract with the private company that had been inspecting hydrants.
Water department workers were set last week to start spot-checking 3,000 hydrants, plus 2,600 other hydrants the contractor hadn't inspected yet this year, said Pam Greene, a spokeswoman for the county water department.

The goal is to finish the effort by Oct. 15, using 12 workers.

Reporter Nicola M. White contributed to this story. Reporter Ellen Gedalius can be reached at egedalius@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7679.

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