House fire sheds light on lack of hydrants

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- It took a devastating fire at a two-story home in Arlington for a family of five and many neighbors to realize there are no fire hydrants on their block.

The closest fire hydrant to the home on the 8500 block of Andaloma Street is nearly 2,000 feet away. That fact forced Jacksonville firefighters to line up tanker after tanker to be able to put out the flames.

Neighbor Heather McCoy described the chaotic scene Sunday afternoon.

"It was really busy. There were a lot of people, it was very scary," said McCoy.

The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department said it knows which neighborhoods lack sufficient hydrants, which is why it dispatched so many tankers. City Councilman Clay Yarborough, who represents the Arlingwood neighborhood, said while JFRD responded quickly fire hydrants are still needed.

"There still is a need, I believe, to have more fire hydrants in these areas that don't have them. The neighborhood was built to the standard at that time but it's costing the city, JEA and the Fire Department the work to go through, the time that needed to be invested, to go through to make sure we had sufficient coverage," said Yarborough.

According to JEA spokeswoman Gerri Boyce, the neighborhood was built in 1956 but current city code requires contractors put in fire hydrants every 500-700 feet.

Action News first told you in October about hundreds of fire hydrants deemed deficient by JEA. Since then, the number has dropped to 91.

"Right now in the system we have one hydrant, and what we did is bagged it so that JFRD knows that the hydrant is not working," said Boyce.

Some Jacksonville neighborhoods don't have fire hydrants at all.

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House fire sheds light on lack of hydrants