Norwood Selectmen Demand Immediate Action on Faulty Fire Hydrants-August 21, 1985

“Somebody’s got to get off their duff and check those hydrants,” declared selectmen Chairman John Kinnaly. “There’s too much talking and not enough action.”

The urgent push for reform follows a July 25 blaze where local firefighters were severely hampered by three broken or malfunctioning hydrants. During that fire, which consumed a large garage on thickly settled Walnut Avenue, emergency crews encountered catastrophic equipment failures: one hydrant plug was completely dry, another produced only a minor trickle of water, and a third plug broke entirely at the neck when firefighters attempted to attach a hose.

Town Manager John Carroll defended municipal operations by explaining that neither the fire department nor the public works department possesses sufficient manpower to inspect the town’s 1,000 fire hydrants. John Carroll informed the board that implementing a comprehensive program to check every hydrant would require other vital public works department programs, such as repairing water leaks and removing illegal sump pumps, to be pushed aside. He noted, “You can’t do everything at once.”

The selectmen, openly frustrated by what they characterized as mistaken priorities that allowed broken fire plugs to go unrepaired, demanded immediate action. “There’s no priority other than the protection of life and property,” Selectman Walter J. Dempsey stated. Chairman John Kinnaly added, “The sump pumps mean nothing to me when I hear of things like this. This is a problem of life and death, don’t you think it’s worth it?”

Following yesterday’s session, Fire Chief Thomas Barry and Public Works Superintendent Paul Wollenhaupt announced they would coordinate directly with John Carroll to devise a formal hydrant inspection plan. Officials indicated that one worker from the fire department and one from the public works department will likely be assigned exclusively to plug maintenance duties.

Chief Thomas Barry revealed that during a previous 1982 hydrant inspection, approximately 8 percent of the 174 plugs checked produced absolutely no water. While others worked improperly or below expected municipal standards, they were still deemed usable. Thomas Barry warned that if the town turned off all broken hydrants to repair them simultaneously, the resulting maintenance backup would leave the community in even greater danger. “We’re willing to do this, but it’s going to take money,” Thomas Barry noted.

In the weeks since the Walnut Avenue fire, a bureaucratic dispute has simmered over which agency is responsible for the infrastructure. Chief Thomas Barry maintained that plug maintenance is the job of the public works department, while Superintendent Paul Wollenhaupt argued that a 1980 agreement explicitly handed that responsibility over to the fire department. The selectmen had previously blasted the fire department two weeks ago for failing to check the hydrants.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger