"The truth is ... we're going up and down on our ability to meet the standards," said Leesville Mayor Robert Rose recently concerning the city's ability to maintain its fire rating. "To sustain our rating, to keep our rating, we're at risk."
The fire rating refers to a grading system by the Property Insurance Association of Louisiana, which grades municipalities on their abilities to provide fire protection based on three areas: communications, equipment and water supply. Water supply provides 40 percent of the grade, while equipment and communications provide 50 and 10 percent respectively. The municipality's grade affects the insurance rates of homeowners within the city's limits.
"Our fire pumps are all off line," Rose explained. "They've been offline. they failed, and the city just didn't have the resources or the planning to repair them." The end result is grim. "At any one time, we're having problems meeting the pressure requirements."
According to Rose, a fire truck pumper can pump 1,000 gallons of water a minute. Water systems generally aren't capable of handling that volume in addition to its normal usage. The City of Leesville's water system is no different. To help meet the demand in the event of a fire, the city has two fire pumps, which are built into the water system and are supposed to automatically switch on when the system senses a drain of the magnitude demanded to put out a fire.
One of the two fire pumps is in need of repair, said City Administrator David Sage. The other pump is off line because the last time it was used, about two or three years ago, it blew out a 12-inch water line. The problem is a thorny one, to say the least. Testing the pump now risks blowing out another 12-inch line, which would shut the water system down entirely, not unlike what happened last Christmas.
Or, the city can wait and hope that a fire doesn't force the issue. In the meantime Sage said the city is working to acquire and install six isolation valves that would prevent city-wide outages. A $20,000 grant from the state bought four, two of which were installed last week. The other two will be installed next week. The city will have to find another funding source for the remaining two or pay for them itself.
While the city is managing without the fire pumps, if a large fire should occur, then the only option would be to rely on the parish for fire water.
But water pressure alone isn't the only issue that affects the fire rating. Throughout the city fireplugs, each marked to indicate how much water pressure they can deliver, stand ready to provide the water necessary to put out a fire. Or so it would seem.
Across from Vernon Middle School sits a fireplug that should deliver up to 1,000 psi of water. But the plug itself is in need of repair. In fact, it's just one of at least 10 in the city that need to be replaced. Six more are out of service and need to be repaired. But the city has none in its inventory.
According to Rose, the lack of fireplugs is just one example of the many small things the city needs to do in order to take control of its resources and not just maintain its standards but improve them.
Like the other water issues, fire protection, too, is being addressed in a master plan by the city's engineer that would rehabilitate the city's entire water system and restore it to its proper operation, including the two wells, pumps, pumping stations and distribution lines throughout the city, said Sage. The next step is to find funding for the multi-million dollar project.
"It's not a small price tag," added Sage.
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"The truth is ... we're going up and down on our ability to meet the standards," said Leesville Mayor Robert Rose recently concerning the city's ability to maintain its fire rating. "To sustain our rating, to keep our rating, we're at risk."
The fire rating refers to a grading system by the Property Insurance Association of Louisiana, which grades municipalities on their abilities to provide fire protection based on three areas: communications, equipment and water supply. Water supply provides 40 percent of the grade, while equipment and communications provide 50 and 10 percent respectively. The municipality's grade affects the insurance rates of homeowners within the city's limits.
"Our fire pumps are all off line," Rose explained. "They've been offline. they failed, and the city just didn't have the resources or the planning to repair them." The end result is grim. "At any one time, we're having problems meeting the pressure requirements."
According to Rose, a fire truck pumper can pump 1,000 gallons of water a minute. Water systems generally aren't capable of handling that volume in addition to its normal usage. The City of Leesville's water system is no different. To help meet the demand in the event of a fire, the city has two fire pumps, which are built into the water system and are supposed to automatically switch on when the system senses a drain of the magnitude demanded to put out a fire.
One of the two fire pumps is in need of repair, said City Administrator David Sage. The other pump is off line because the last time it was used, about two or three years ago, it blew out a 12-inch water line. The problem is a thorny one, to say the least. Testing the pump now risks blowing out another 12-inch line, which would shut the water system down entirely, not unlike what happened last Christmas.
Or, the city can wait and hope that a fire doesn't force the issue. In the meantime Sage said the city is working to acquire and install six isolation valves that would prevent city-wide outages. A $20,000 grant from the state bought four, two of which were installed last week. The other two will be installed next week. The city will have to find another funding source for the remaining two or pay for them itself.
While the city is managing without the fire pumps, if a large fire should occur, then the only option would be to rely on the parish for fire water.
But water pressure alone isn't the only issue that affects the fire rating. Throughout the city fireplugs, each marked to indicate how much water pressure they can deliver, stand ready to provide the water necessary to put out a fire. Or so it would seem.
Across from Vernon Middle School sits a fireplug that should deliver up to 1,000 psi of water. But the plug itself is in need of repair. In fact, it's just one of at least 10 in the city that need to be replaced. Six more are out of service and need to be repaired. But the city has none in its inventory.
According to Rose, the lack of fireplugs is just one example of the many small things the city needs to do in order to take control of its resources and not just maintain its standards but improve them.
Like the other water issues, fire protection, too, is being addressed in a master plan by the city's engineer that would rehabilitate the city's entire water system and restore it to its proper operation, including the two wells, pumps, pumping stations and distribution lines throughout the city, said Sage. The next step is to find funding for the multi-million dollar project.
"It's not a small price tag," added Sage.
