Non-working hydrants delayed Charlotte Fire response to Dilworth explosion
When a call about a home explosion and fire in Dilworth came in on the morning of May 2, the Charlotte Fire Department arrived within three minutes. But non-working fire hydrants then delayed firefighters by about five minutes.
The hydrant problems, first reported Wednesday by WCNC, were attributed to interference with the water supply by private contractors, according to Jennifer Frost, the public affairs manager at Charlotte Water.
According to a Charlotte Fire Department statement, firetrucks arrived at 1645 Lombardy Circle by 6:18 a.m. the morning of the explosion and began using their onboard water supply while crew members searched for another supply.
It wasn’t until about 6:23 a.m. that crews finally found a working hydrant, the department said. It was the third attempt to find one. Five minutes after that, at 6:28 a.m., crew members had found multiple hydrants for the response.
“As is standard practice across the fire service, Charlotte Fire trains its crews to proactively identify and prepare secondary hydrants when arriving at a fire scene, in the event the primary hydrant is unavailable or non-functioning,” the department said.
Fire investigators determined the fire and explosion were intentionally set. No one was killed, but the owner of the home, Michael Barnette, was recently arrested in Chicago in connection to the fire and is in the process of being extradited to North Carolina.
Details of hydrant problem
Frost said the contractors had been improperly operating hydrants and underground valves, disrupting the hydrants’ normal functions.
“While this was an isolated situation and protocols are in place for the Fire Department should they encounter an inoperable hydrant, we take it seriously and are implementing safeguards to minimize the risk of recurrence, including improved monitoring and more frequent spot-checks of hydrants in areas undergoing construction or utility work,” Frost said.
Neighbors have pointed to concerns over construction of a large apartment building on their street. Not only because of how long construction has taken and the hours of noise they’ve had to live with, but because of the added congestion it’ll bring.
Curt Sowers, who lived next door to Barnette and whose husband sustained minor injuries from the explosion, said he watched as fire crews rushed to find a working hydrant that day.
“I’m sitting there seeing this house, this huge ball of fire, and then it got up in our tree that’s next to our house, and the tree is on fire, and nothing’s happening,” Sowers said. “There’s no water.”
