Recent fire underscores need for more hydrants

CORNWALL — It had already been acknowledged that there was a need for a better emergency water supply in Cornwall Bridge.

Then a devastating fire in the center of town on Jan. 12 and 13 destroyed the Northeast Building Supply lumberyard. 

It was contained thanks to a large mutual aid response and skillful supplying of massive amounts of water, tanker-brigade style.

At the Jan. 18 meeting of the Board of Selectmen, it was noted by Assistant Fire Chief Jim Vanicky that the town of Sharon’s tower, which dumped water on the fire from a ladder high above, registered about 900,000 gallons alone. 

It is estimated that there was easily more than a million gallons of water used. First Selectman Gordon Ridgway, one of the volunteer firefighters on the scene throughout the night, joked that at one point the Housatonic River was dry.

The subject of the water supply came up during a discussion of the highway department budget for the coming year proposed by Vanicky, who is also the town crew foreman. Already proposed in capital spending is $33,000 for hydrants for Cornwall Bridge. 

“We learned a lot about our water supply during that fire,” Ridgway said. “We will likely look at upgrading the water supply there this summer.”

Without a public water supply system, there are no charged hydrants. Dry hydrants (pipes that extend from  a water source to an easily accessible point along a road) offer ready access and are installed in numerous places in town. 

Ideally, there would also be a first-strike supply. Plans were discussed not long ago to install a large tank at the Cornwall Bridge firehouse. 

In the meantime, Bonney Brook senior housing was built next door. It has a 10,000 gallon water tank, but it was learned that under the rules that apply to federally subsidized housing, the water can only be used at the facility.