By Martin B. Cassidy
Staff Writer
April 4, 2007
To improve the water supply for fighting blazes in the
backcountry where there is no town water supply, the fire
department is looking for more residents who will let them
install dry hydrants on ponds, lakes or swimming pools.
Dry hydrants are suction devices that can tap into any water
source that is more than four feet deep.
"In the backcountry and other areas without municipal water
we have fairly large structures and don't have a good water
supply established for firefighting purposes," Assistant
Fire Chief Peter Siecienski said.
Adding dry hydrants to an area can reduce fire insurance rates
for homeowners.
The Round Hill, Glenville, and Banksville fire departments keep a
fleet of pumper trucks to help shuttle water to fires, Siecienski
said, but this can be inefficient.
New dry hydrants were installed last summer on Riversville Road,
Sumner Road, the Seton Reservation, North Porchuck Road, and
Close Road. Siecienski said the five hydrants would produce
enough water to shorten the time it takes to fill up the tanker
trucks used to relay water to fires.
"The dry hydrant program is going full force and it is their
tax dollars and their money being used for fire protection,"
Fire Inspector John Fronio said of backcountry residents.
"We want the public to be aware of what we're doing ... a
dry hydrant can be the difference between life and death during a
fire."
The insurance industry rates fire protection in the backcountry
as lagging behind town neighborhoods that are linked to the
municipal water supply.
In December 2004, the New Jersey-based ISO, an independent rating
agency whose analyses are used by insurance companies to set home
insurance rates, gave the town a score of 4/8B, with 1 being the
highest score and 10 the lowest.
The 4 rating applies to parts of the town within five miles of a
fire station and no more than 1,000 feet from a hydrant. Areas
with an 8B rating, which includes much of the backcountry, are
more than 1,000 feet from a hydrant but have met a minimum
requirement for providing 250 gallons per minute for 20 minutes
during the initial response to a fire.
The installation of the dry hydrants is welcome news for
backcountry residents who pay high insurance rates because of the
lack of water, said Joan Caldwell, a Riversville Road resident
and director of the Northwest Greenwich Association.
"The people in the backcountry fortunate enough to be near a
dry hydrant benefit," Caldwell said. "The more the
merrier for hydrants and it is important in terms of life,
property, and insurance premiums."
Meanwhile the Glenville Volunteer Fire Department is scheduled to
get a new tanker truck this summer, Siecienski said.
"That will help shorten the turnaround time getting water to
fires," Siecienski said.
Copyright © 2007, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.