In January, city Comptroller John Liu revealed that the city Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) did not repair faulty fire hydrants in a timely manner—even taking as long as one year to fix one in Richmond Hill. Now Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) is proposing legislation that would require the DEP fix hydrants promptly.
“There is nothing more important to a fire company when responding to a fire than having access to a working fire hydrant,” said Crowley. “Comptroller Liu’s audit exposed a major flaw with the tracking, reporting and repairing of fire hydrants throughout New York City. This bill will require the DEP to fix fire hydrants within seven to ten days and assure that when the FDNY arrives on the scene, they have a working fire plug to hook up to.”
According to the Comptroller’s audit, the DEP took over 15 days to fix high priority hydrants—those near schools, hospitals and senior citizen housing. A hydrant on 116th Street and Liberty Avenue took 368 days to fix, according to the report. The audit also noted that the DEP did not have any written standards for repairing hydrants—the DEP had an internal goal to fix hydrants within 10 days, but it was often broken, the audit found.
“Our audit findings were troubling to say the least, especially as it related to the inadequate response by DEP to fix hydrants located near schools, senior housing and hospitals,” Liu said. “Council Member Crowley should be commended for taking the initiative to introduce this legislation, which will enhance the safety of all New Yorkers by turning a loosely followed ‘internal policy’ into binding law.”
Crowley’s legislation would require the DEP to repair high-priority hydrants within seven days of receiving a complaint and regular hydrants within 10 days. The proposed law would also require the department to establish a method for reporting and tracking the repair of all hydrants. Crowley said this would increase accountability and transparency.
The DEP did not respond by press time to a request for comment, but in January, the agency agreed with many of the audit’s recommendations and agreed to implement more rigorous standards for hydrant repairs.
Update: DEP Director of Communications Farrell Sklerov says, “The bill is unnecessary. More than 99% of the 109,000 fire hydrants that DEP maintains are functioning properly each day. At times, some fire hydrants can need repairs, often because of reckless driving or normal wear and tear, and DEP fixes them as quickly as possible. When hydrants are inoperative, DEP already works closely with the FDNY to ensure that there is an adequate supply of water to fight fires and keep the public safe. For Fiscal Year 2011, our average time to repair high-priority broken hydrants was just under six days.”
by Eric Yun
