Last Updated on 7/3/2009

Published on 7/6/2008

By Clayton Stairs

cstairs@gtowntimes.com

This fiscal year, which began on July 1, will bring some needed changes to the fire hydrant inspection system in the three fire districts outside the City of Georgetown: Georgetown County Fire District, Midway Fire District and the Murrells Inlet/Garden City Fire District.

Thanks to a memorandum agreement between Georgetown County and the Georgetown County Water and Sewer District (GCWSD), keeping track of fire hydrant inspections will soon be more efficient, and the data will be more accessible to those agencies, the fire departments and the public. Unlike the present system, in which each agency keeps its own records on inspections, the new system will include a standardized inspection report and a hydrant numbering system that will allow firefighters to access to hydrant information on route to a fire.

"We are working with the county to connect our Geographic Information System (GIS) databases," said GCWSD Executive Director Bob Barker. "We already have our own GIS systems, but right now inspection updates are sent on paper to the county and the three fire departments. So this will be much more efficient and it is unique to our community."

Georgetown County Administrator Sel Hemingway has been working closely with Barker to make this new system possible. He says that a link should be established for the new system by the end of the month.

"This is a perfect example

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of each of us having the ability and knowledge to do these things, and the need to have open communication lines, sharing data to make things more efficient," Hemingway said. "It will help with planning and keeping from duplicating our efforts."

After faulty fire hydrants were discovered during two recent fires in the DeBordieu community, the GCWSD has been working to determine how many of the hydrants have been inspected in the last six months. As of now, Barker says all of the 2,150 fire hydrants in the sewer district have been inspected in the last six months.

"They are all in operation," Barker said. "Some of them, we found, had been inspected, but the inspection reports were not complete. We went ahead and re-inspected those hydrants just to make sure."

He states that the biggest issue about hydrants that people need to understand is that they don't break by themselves. Vandals, car accidents, lawn mowers and people using the hydrants without permission are the main causes of hydrant failure. They discovered five or six hydrants had been "tampered with."

"The general public should not be tampering with or using a fire hydrant," Barker said. "It is illegal for anyone who is not trained to use a hydrant. You could damage the hydrant itself, effect the flow of water in the area, and create turbulence in the water system which can result in discoloration in the water due to mineral deposits around the hydrants themselves."

Anyone who witnesses tampering with hydrants or accidents resulting in damage to a hydrant is urged to call GCWSD at 237-9727.