With water at a premium this summer, parched Carroll County just got 60,000 gallons? worth.
To provide water for putting out fires, workers buried two 55-foot, 30,000-gallon tanks beneath Silver Run and Mount Airy.
The Silver Run tank replaces a smaller, leaky tankthat was hardly useful, said Mike Gist, chief of the Pleasant Valley Volunteer Fire Company.
“I think it?s great; we need water in this area,” said Helen Wolf, who lives two houses from the tank in Silver Run. “The tank that was there we couldn?t depend on.”
The new tank gives Wolf more security because in the past, the 20,000-gallon pool in her backyard would have been the best option for firefighters, she said.
“I guess we would have used it from there,” she said. “I wouldn?t have wanted to.”
And natural bodies of water aren?t much of an option this summer either, Gist said, with water levels dropping because of the drought.
A neighbor begrudgingly allowed firefighters to use a lake to extinguish a blaze a few years ago, and the county then passed a law giving the firefighters the right to access bodies of water on private property, Gist said.
“It?s an insightful program,” County Commissioner Michael Zimmer said. “Hopefully, it will save lives.”
The county will add two tanks a year, at a cost of about $100,000 each, said Ted Zaleski, director of management and budget. Gist said he hopes to eventually have 55 throughout the county.
Fire trucks will also be upgraded. Trucks hauling water can usually hold 1,000 gallons. But next year, Gist will introduce one that can carry 3,200 gallons. It will cost $320,000, he said.
“It?s almost like putting a fire hydrant here,” Gist said.
