Low water pressure plagued firefighters

Staff writer

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When a neighbor reported the former Guadalajara restaurant was ablaze Friday, firefighters rushed to the scene to find a structure with a large fire in the attic and three heavy air conditioning units on the roof. Battalion Chief Mike Nolan said an interior attack would be dangerous, so firefighters launched a defensive attack to make sure the fire wouldn’t spread to surrounding buildings.

Such a large fire required a considerable amount of water, so the fire department brought in three large-volume aerial trucks and attempted to pipe water from three hydrants, some of which were a considerable distance from the building, Nolan said.

But just like turning on three faucets in a house, since the hydrants are all connected to the same water line, the firefighters ran into an issue with low water pressure.

“We had some water pressure difficulties, which is not uncommon,” Nolan said. “… With such big aerial devices in one shot, they don’t make a line big enough to pull off all the water that we want.”

Nolan said water-line sizes vary, and the lines get smaller as they move farther outside of the city. He also said that due to the size of the fire and the volume of water the trucks needed to pump from the line, the department would have run into the same difficulties no matter the location.

City Manager Joe Thomas said he is not aware of the system around the former restaurant being a problem area for hydrant water pressure, but said the city notifies EPCOR when it does identify an area that needs upgrades.

“We meet regularly with EPCOR representatives, and they have a plan which upgrades certain areas. They have accomplished a lot over the years. It’s an ongoing process; we identify weak areas and point it out to them and hope that they will respond in a timely manner.”

Bryan Daly, the EPCOR district manager for Clovis, said he has not yet spoken to city officials about the water lines used to fight Friday’s fire, but said the company is working on several upgrades in the city, including boosting fire-hose pressure from Main Street to Martin Luther King Boulevard along Grand Avenue.

“We have the areas that don’t push as much as other areas,” Daly said. “You have to remember cost and supply is a factor. We are dealing with challenges just getting water to town. You add to it another challenge of trying to supply fire flow and that makes it difficult.”

Although officials noted the area is not flagged for an upgrade, Nolan said the water pressure issue would likely not be a problem for a residential structure fire in the neighborhood.

“… Now we know which hydrants to tap into for larger flows in that area,” Nolan said. “Where we were at is mostly a residential structure area: people’s homes. So one single hydrant would provide enough water for that.”

Nolan said the investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing at the state fire marshal’s office.