The Daviess County Fire Department is working toward adding at least 100 fire hydrants to neighborhoods across the county, outside of City limits.
The project is possible thanks to funding from Daviess County Fiscal Court, which is receiving $1,174,154 through the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority’s grant assistance agreement. The money is going entirely toward installing stronger hydrants throughout the county.
DCFD Fire Chief Jeremy Smith said they are working alongside the water districts in the county to find the most feasible spots to install hydrants.
The perfect places to put them, Smith said, are those that both have strong water flow and are close to residents.
“What we don’t want to do is waste money, put a hydrant in a place that doesn’t get good flow, and then we got to go in there and replace it in just a few years. We want these to be long-term,” Smith said.
The average fire engine carries 1,000 gallons of water as it heads to a scene. When the engine empties, they have to drive to a hydrant, refill, and return to the scene. Smith said the department often drives a mile, sometimes two, to connect to a hydrant when their tanks run empty on rural runs.
A typical structure fire has five or six engines responding, Smith said.
“So that means you have 6,000 gallons to begin with, but you can go through 1,000 gallons of water in just a few minutes. So it’s very important that the quicker we can get to a hydrant and get filled, the quicker we can get back, and there’s no delay in firefighting,” Smith said.
Smith expects some of the groundwork on the project to begin this spring and summer, noting they’ve haven’t been able to do much so far due to the weather that has been coming through the area.
