I-Team Uncovers Hydrants Out-Of-Order For Months
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - When you think about the tools fire fighters use every day, you might think of fire trucks, a hose, turnouts, or a breathing apparatus. But without water, there would be no way to battle a blaze; which is why working fire hydrants are so important.
The CBS 11 I-Team took a close look at fire hydrant work orders in Dallas, after a neighborhood association reached out to Investigative Reporter Mireya Villarreal asking for help.
Information obtained by CBS 11 from the past two years shows the Dallas Water Utilities Department has had more than 50 fire hydrants out of service between 20 and 145 days.
"Obviously, it would impact us tremendously if they're not able to get to water in time," Eric Nichols, owner of Skillz Salon, said.
Nichols' shop is off Trinity Mills Road and Marsh Lane on the far north side of Dallas. He says he's noticed some issues with the main fire hydrant that services his shopping center, but never realized, at one point, it was out of order for 110 days.
"You would think something like that would get fixed in a number of days; maybe the longest period of time, two weeks," Nichols told us.
The I-Team analyzed the city's fire hydrant data from 2012 through 2014. In more than half of the cases, hydrants were fixed within a week of being inspected. But in nearly 60 cases it took more than 20 days to close out the order. The I-Team also found 24 cases where it took more than 50 days to fix the problem. Some of those hydrants are near apartments, homes, shopping centers and schools.
"That is definitely not a good thing. God forbid something happen," Mirtha Velsor, a grandparent the I-Team spoke with at one of the schools impacted, reacted.
"I think it's ridiculous," Demetrius Butler added. "If it was a fire, there it would have been a big problem."
The I-Team took the Water Department's hydrant information and cross-checked it with calls to the Dallas Fire Department. Turns out, in 13 of the top 24 top cases emergency responders were called out to these locations when the hydrants were out of order; which is why I-Team Reporter Mireya Villarreal went to the city looking for answers.
For days, the I-Team reached out to various city departments and contacts, including Randall Payton, Assistant Director of Water Delivery, Sana Syed, Dallas' Public Information Director, and Lt. Joel Lavendar, with the Dallas Fire Department. The Fire Department responded by directing us back to the Water Department. And both Payton and Syed committed to getting back to us, but never followed up with any information regarding the out-of-order hydrants.
When no one called or sent a follow-up email with more information, Investigative Reporter Mireya Villarreal tracked down the Water Utilities Director Jody Puckett.
"Mireya with CBS," Villarreal said as she introduced herself.
"Right," Puckett answered.
"We had some hydrant information," Villarreal followed up.
"I'm not going to do this right now. Are you running this," Puckett asked as she pointed to the camera.
Villarreal answered, "Yes we are. Absolutely."
"So, stop," Puckett ordered. "I'm not giving you permission to do that. Okay. And I'm not going to be ambushed. You can put that on there."
In Dallas, the Fire Department inspects hydrants on an annual basis. If something is wrong with them, they send in a work order to the Water Department. The Water Department's Service Level Agreement (SLA) is to fix any issues within ten days of inspection.
"Ok. You can't tell us why 145 days to fix a fire hydrant?" Villarreal questioned.
"I can't tell you why it took 145 days. I can only tell you it shouldn't have," Puckett answered.
"Here's my concern. There people out there, there are schools, there are homes. So, people are concerned about public safety when it takes 145 days to fix these hydrants," Villarreal added.
"I understand that view point about a fire hydrant. But the fire protection system is overlapped," Puckett explained.
Puckett says fire protection was never compromised at any of these locations because there was another hydrant somewhere nearby.
"I'm interested in this 140-day deal. In fact, we've been talking about this for about year about how to make improvements," Puckett noted.
After speaking with Puckett in her office, the Water Utilities Department followed up with more information regarding the hydrants in Dallas:
"Dallas Water Utilities (DWU) maintains over 29,000 fire hydrants city wide in support of fire protection. We generally have about 200 hydrants scheduled for repair during a month. When we receive a request from DFR, we have a same day response process to check the nature of issue with the hydrant and determine if there is appropriate fire protection coverage in the event the hydrant is taken out of service. If the hydrant in question is the only source of coverage, then it is repaired as soon as physically possible. If it is not the only source of coverage, our "standard" service level agreement (SLA) for the repair or return to service is ten (10) days. DWU is responsible for posting the "out of service" signs on a fire hydrant (attached is an example). This gives the fire department field verification regarding the use of the hydrant.
Regarding the 24 hydrant locations you mentioned in your email, 13 needed some form of maintenance and were not out of service. The 11 were found to be out of service for extended period; however each location had additional fire protection, including the two locations near schools.
We are looking into why we did not meet those standards, and are reviewing our process and procedures to strive for 100% on our SLA's for fire hydrants. But again, fire protection was not compromised at any of these locations." – Jody Puckett
(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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