Fire hydrants vital for safety

THIS newspaper, for the past three years or so, has been publishing articles with regards to fire hydrants in the city and it seems that no solution is in sight, this resulted in the fire service bearing the brunt of criticism for failing to control fires in their early stages.
Fire hydrants may not be among major concerns now but it should be a community concern especially in densely populated areas where time is of great essence during emergency situations such as a fire.
There should be one fire hydrant easily accessible every 100m on the streets of Port Moresby.
But that is not the case.
Fire hydrant, also called a fireplug, fire pump, johnny pump, or simply pump, is a connection point by which firefighters can tap into a water supply.
It is a component of active fire protection.
Fire trucks carry a certain gallons of water to the scene of a fire, with pumps capable of discharging it in less than two minutes.
Any fire officer in charge of an appliance approaching the scene of a fire in an area where the risk of fire spreading is great, would do his best to get that fire under control with the limited capacity of water that is available to him, or seek to quickly supplement that resource from the fire hydrants or any other source which is available in the vicinity, such as a canal.
But when the hydrants are not functional, then the big question is what happens next?
In the meantime the fire is consuming everything in its path.
Valuable minutes are lost, which dictates whether the fire would become a major conflagration or one which is quickly extinguished.
The million-kina question is who is responsible for the fire hydrants?
PNG Fire says there are fire hydrants in Port Moresby but during constructions, there was no proper consultation between stakeholders responsible for the hydrants that it is covered up when roads were built.
The two entities PNG Fire Service and Eda Ranu should always be consulted prior to constructions taking place.
These two should have their say to all these fire hydrants – ground ball hydrants which are placed under the ground but there is a cement covering.
All buildings should have a hydrant at least 30 metres away and should also have internal fire hydrants.
It is time the town authorities take responsibility for the fire hydrants that have been covered during road construction to clear up the hydrants.
PNG Fire Service say their job is to maintain, paint and test fire hydrant to make sure all fire hydrants are fully operational.
Fire hydrants are important components of our communities, especially in populated areas where fetching water may be stalled by traffic and other road obstruction.
After all of these problems, it now appears the vital fire safety infrastructure that all residents rely has been neglected.
Who knows how many faulty hydrants will be found if authorities get serious in checking out this issue.
A potential disaster is staring at us in the face and the fire hydrants should be given priority to recover and restore them.
It has to be done.
It’s now or never!