Marble Hill fire chief describes city's hydrant system inadequate

MARBLE HILL, Mo. — Using a color-coded map of the city of Marble Hill, Woodland Fire Protection District Chief Calvin Troxell showed the Marble Hill Board of Aldermen how inadequate the city's hydrant system has become over the years.

Troxell told the board Monday he and his department conducted a fire test during December and found the system inadequate for the city's current needs.

Of the 101 hydrants throughout the city's two wards, only nine hydrants were found to be in good working order, Troxell said.

In Ward 1, 22 hydrants were found to be out of order, nine were unable to pump more than 500 gallons per minute, and 31 were not able to pump enough water to be usable. In Ward 2, eight or nine were out of service, 14 pumped below 500 gallons per minute, and 23 of 46 hydrants were not usable.

The system was most likely built in 1938, Troxell said, and is no longer adequate for firefighting. Over the years, structures changed from being made of natural substances to containing more man-made substances, which he said makes fighting fires more difficult.

And, he added, the lines are mostly dead-end lines, which diminishes their effectiveness during heavy use.

"If we have a fire, we will use a tanker," Troxell said. "We will get mutual aid from other fire departments with tankers. We need bigger mains and we need the lines to be engineered for the buildings we have."

The testing the Woodland crew did helps the ISO determine the city's fire insurance rates, he said.

"Helping this will help the community bring in business," Troxell said. "Two very large businesses here are protected by nothing."

To replace the system will be expensive, he said, but it is necessary because since the lines were laid, nothing has been replaced, only patched.

"I've been here 37 years, Troxell said, "and for 37 years we've had a problem. All I am asking for is some actual action."

He said the city first needs to color code all of its hydrants. At night, under rough conditions, if a firefighter can see at a glance the color of the hydrant, he will know instantly what hydrants to avoid hooking on to, he added.

Mayor Trey Wiginton said now is a good time to begin this work because "of the availability of funding from the federal and state government."

Troxell stated several times that he is ready to show each alderman the condition of the hydrants and water mains and answer any questions they might have.