Residents in Ascension Parish subdivision concerned

Tag : Water Pressure Gauge
Residents in an upscale Ascension Parishsubdivision say they have water worries. One fire official says thehydrants there have substandard water pressure.
A house in the 40000 block of Pelican Point Parkway caught firelast week after being struck by lightning. Homeowners are upsetabout how the fire was fought. Residents of Pelican Pointsubdivision may have a reason to be concerned. Ward 5 Fire ChiefPeter Roblin says it took six fire trucks, two hydrants, and backupfrom Baton Rouge Waterworks to get the fire under control. Thechief says it's not uncommon for firefighters to call on BatonRouge for a bigger supply.
"I was home and I was in my backyard and I could see the flames,"says Suzanne Demontluzin. "I'm concerned about the water pressure,the lives," says Audrey Sanchez. The ten-year-old subdivisionrecently got 14 new hydrants to support new construction in thearea. The parish has an ordinance on what color they have to be,how many should be installed, and the distance between them.However, when it comes to water pressure, Roblin says the linesthat run to the hydrants just don't cut it. "They're useful to acertain extent, but we don't get what we need out of them."
For demonstration purposes, a firefighter opened the hydrant justacross the street from the burned house. The water pressure maylook strong enough to some people, but according to Chief Roblin'sgauge, it's nowhere near where it would have to be to fight fires."I had 30 psi on a two-inch nozzle. That's 672 gallons a minute. Iwould like to be at least 1000 gallons a minute." Opening anotherhydrant for backup presents its own problem. "When you open asecond hydrant, you'll have a 20 psi drop in pressure," the chiefsays.
Firefighters say even then, fighting a fire the size of last week'swould still require more help. "If you don't have enough engines onscene and hoses at the same time and not adequate flow out ofhydrants, you're not going to get 3,000 gallons a minute and that'swhat it would have taken to put that out," says Michael Simpsonwith Ascension Parish Fire District 1. Firefighters say their handsare tied until parish officials make the necessary improvements.
Kent Schexnaydre with the Ascension Parish Council says whenPelican Point was built there were no regulations on water linesbecause the parish did not have a water system. He says the councilis working with a new developer to loop more water volume throughlarger lines to Pelican Point. However, he says it could be threeyears before that happens.
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