The District of Columbia government will not be satisfied until all of the city’s fire hydrants are working, Mayor Adrian Fenty said Wednesday outside the charred Georgetown Neighborhood Library. The library suffered extensive damage in Monday’s blaze for two reasons. First, the initial calls to 911 didn’t come in for a “significant” time after the fire started, when the roof was already on the verge of collapse, Fire Chief Dennis Rubin said.
And second, the two hydrants closest to the library failed.
“It is an important part of fire suppression and so it is a huge priority,” Fenty said of fixing fire hydrants citywide.
Of the District’s roughly 9,300 hydrants, more than 50 reportedly are out of order. The D.C. Water and Sewer Authority oversees their maintenance and inspection.
“It’s not in reaction to the situation that happened, but WASA has been working with the fire department in the last year coordinating a program to upgrade all of the infrastructure associated with fire protection in the District,” said Charles Kiely, WASA’s assistant general manager for consumer services.
Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., meanwhile, called for a congressional investigation into the “availability of adequate water supplies” in an emergency.
“While the hydrant problems in Georgetown were serious enough for one fire, more widespread problems could have catastrophic consequences in the event of a terrorist attack,” Davis wrote to the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
To which Ward 2 D.C. Council Member Jack Evans replied: “We don’t need Congress to get involved in fixing fire hydrants.”
