Two weeks ago, the fire pond on Sholan Circle was completely dry. Because of the ongoing severe drought, the pipe that was meant to draw water into the hydrant on the pond’s bank instead lay exposed on the bottom of the cracked pond bed. And while the recent late-season rains have helped to replenish the water level in this pond, at least enough to cover the pipe, the drought has affected the water level in all 22 of Harvard’s fire ponds, which are an important firefighting resource in a town where, according to Public Works Director Rich Nota, 95 percent of properties are without a public water system.
A completely dried-up fire pond off of Sholan Circle. (Courtesy photo)
Fire Chief Rick Sicard has been monitoring the fire ponds with increasing concern. He visits each of the ponds regularly to assess the water level, noting at his last field visit that while all the ponds are lower than normal, half the ponds in Harvard were not full enough to use in the event of a structure fire. While the Fire Department always brings its own “water on wheels” to a fire, having a nearby, available water resource is essential during an emergency. So late this spring, Sicard enacted the “mutual aid” plan.
Normally, when the fire ponds are full, the department responds to an emergency with all its engines and the tanker truck, bringing 7,250 gallons of water to the scene. Once there, firefighters assess the situation and decide whether additional support from other towns is needed, which is known as “mutual aid.” However, due to this year’s drought conditions, the department has changed its timeframe for calling in mutual aid. Now it calls for additional resources from other towns right away, so they respond at the same time Harvard’s trucks do, eliminating the delay in getting extra water there.
“With things drying out, we need to be proactive,” said Sicard in a phone interview this week. “As far as we are concerned, all the ponds would have to fill up again for us to change this plan.” The give and take of mutual aid is a common occurrence for Harvard and its neighboring towns. “We help each other out all the time,” said Sicard.
But the water level in the fire ponds is not Sicard’s only concern. Twice a year the Fire Department does a flow test on each pond’s dry hydrant to check the volume of water the trucks are able to pump out of the pond during a certain timeframe. The flow out of the dry hydrants has been decreasing each of the five and a half years Sicard has been fire chief. “That’s what has me concerned,” he said. “Say there’s 30,000 gallons of water in a certain fire pond; our goal is to pump 1,000 gallons per minute. Some have dropped off to 500 gallons per minute. We are not getting our max flow out of the dry hydrants.” Several pipes are broken or have holes in them, limiting flow, while others have filled with dead leaves and debris from the bottom of the pond. In addition to slowing flow, pond debris can jam the department’s pumping mechanisms, resulting in costly repairs. Some ponds may need to be dredged to return the hydrants to their peak performance.
A perfect time
Ironically, said Sicard, “with the water being so low, now is the perfect time to do work on the ponds. Usually you have to take the water out to do repairs.” But the department doesn’t have any money set aside for maintaining the ponds. In fact, Sicard said he has found “no records” of any maintenance done on the ponds since many were installed. “There’s always been testing every year, but there’s no plan for maintaining. What’s the funding mechanism to fix it? There hasn’t been one set up,” he said.
A private contractor, Goldsmith, Prest & Ringwall, has been commissioned to conduct an engineering study to determine exactly what repairs need to be made and to recommend a strategy for maintaining the ponds going forward. Sicard, who was hoping for the study results by the end of October, has been meeting with the Board of Selectmen and the capital committee, letting them know about the need for maintenance and asking for a place holder for a funding request once the repair strategy is determined.
Sicard expects that the repairs will take some time to complete and may not get started until the spring. He expects that the contractor will recommend a phased approach, targeting a few ponds each year until all 22 have received the necessary maintenance and repairs. In the meantime, the Fire Department will continue to rely on the mutual aid of surrounding fire departments to ensure there is plenty of water to fight structure fires in Harvard. And everyone will continue to wait for Mother Nature to send relief from the drought, one raindrop at a time.
