May 31, 2007 11:59 pm US/Central
Investigation Leads To Repair Of Fire Hydrants
by Dave Savini
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Earlier this month, the CBS 2 Investigators exposed fire hydrants that do not work, even outside of schools. Now the problem is even bigger and affecting more communities.
2 Investigator Dave Savini reports on the follow-up to his original investigation, which has prompted major repairs to out of order fire hydrants.
Mount Prospect's Fire Chief Mike Figolah and Bolingbrook's Chief Steve Shanks have for weeks been inspecting broken hydrants in their cities.
"I'm very concerned 50 percent of the hydrants we've been looking at have had issues," Figolah said.
"We're not sure whether the hydrants work because we can't physically open them," Shanks said.
Both also launched investigations into the private utility company that owns these hydrants -- Illinois American Water.
"There's potential life safety issues there," Shanks said.
They say they are finding inadequate and conflicting records about hydrant repairs -- and they want to know why they weren't warned about hydrants left in disrepair for, in some cases, as long as a year.
"By not knowing what's going on I believe that puts not only the citizens, but my firefighters in danger," Shanks said.
They launched investigations because of what our 2 Investigators exposed earlier this month.
Some hydrants throughout other suburbs don't open, or are on empty. In Mt. Prospect there were more broken hydrants -- including one in front of Rivertrails Middle School. It was out of service, and the chief says he was not warned about it until after CBS 2 reports.
"I'm going to make sure we get this thing repaired as soon as possible," Figolah said.
A CBS 2 investigation also found hydrants thirsty for repair in front of other schools -- including Bolingbrook High School, Lisle Junior High and Lisle's Schieser Elementary.
The investigation led to them being fixed, which pleases Mt. Prospect parent Eileen Carrillo.
"I'm happy you guys did the investigation and that they're being fixed but I wish they would have done it on their own," Carrillo said.
In April the 2 Investigators spoke with Illinois American Water President Karla Teasley.
"We annually inspect all of our fire hydrants," Teasley told CBS 2 at that time.
She says the delay in repairing hydrants is something they are working to fix, spending millions to do so.
Through his own investigation Shanks discovered some hydrants were not working – and they're right next door to the fire station.
Since the CBS 2 probe, Illinois American Water began alerting fire departments about bad hydrants.
"We are working hard to make improvements daily in the system," Teasley said.
"I've only got minutes of time where I've got to be able to get water on the fire," Shanks said.
The hydrant outside of Rivertrails School in Mt. Prospect was fixed the day after CBS 2 interviewed the chief.
He says that hydrant is owned by Illinois American Water. The company disputes that, but fixed the hydrant anyway.
An Illinois American Water official says there is "no question" our CBS 2 investigation has led to "positive results."
The company has dispatched crews and hired outside contractors to handle the demand for hydrant repairs sparked by the CBS 2 investigation.
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