On Saturday, 20 January 2007, a Carmelite contacted Fire Chief Andrew Miller with the following two questions:
"Of the 172 "operational fire hydrants," how many has the Carmel-by-the-Sea Fire Department tested for water flow?"
"How many does the Fire Department intend to water flow test monthly?"
Fire Chief Andrew Miller’s Response (Tuesday, 23 January 2007):
"To answer your questions, we have service tested and performed basic maintenance on all of the 201 fire hydrants and have flow tested a total of 94 fire hydrants within the City. The problem hydrants are the ones that are connected to the 80 year old corroded 4” water mains; we have tested all of these hydrants and have passed the information on the non-operational hydrants to Cal-Am. We are continuing with the flow testing process and plan on having the remainder of the fire hydrants flow tested by the end of the year. Once we have flow tested all of the 201 fire hydrants we will follow the National Fire Protection Association recommendation of flow testing 1/5 of the fire hydrants annually, thus all fire hydrants will be flow tested every 5 years. We will continue to service and maintain all 201 of the fire hydrants on an annual basis."
COMMENTS:
Fire Chief Andrew Miller’s presentations to the public at City Council meetings about the fire hydrants and water mains situation have read like PR announcements. And while it may be understandable that the city has instructed Fire Chief Miller to minimize the failure of the Carmel-by-the-Sea Fire Department to conduct standard tests over an 11 year period, it is unacceptable to mislead Carmelites through sins of omission. Moreover, Carmelites should not have to individually contact the city to have simple, basic questions answered. Therefore, during future presentations to the public at City Council meetings, Fire Chief Miller should give more comprehensive presentations and answer any and all questions from Carmelites during the meeting of his presentation.
1 comment:
It would be nice if the PG Fire Chief could be more open about what the Carmel Fire Department is and is not doing. It is probable however that the agreement with PG includes an understanding, probably tacit, that PG Fire personnel, when dealing with Carmel matters, must be as untransparent as the mayor requires Carmel's staff to be. There is probably no hope for any transparency in Carmel so long as Sue McCloud is mayor.
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