Officials Say Fire Hydrant Pressure Levels Just Fine, Have Not Posed Danger to Public

Former fire chief James Bombace told the council in March that by Ridgewood High School after testing levels showed water pressure was 'severely deficient,' and the public could be in considerable danger.

At Wednesday's council meeting, Village Manager Ken Gabbert and Superintendent of Water Eric Fooder said levels are fine after discovering a previous test produced faulty numbers, likely due to a math error.

On March 18, days after Bombace's public statements, current fire chief James Van Goor and Fooder met with a representative from the Insurance Services Office (ISO) and determined numbers the ISO had used in 2008–under 1,000 gallons of pressure per minute at the high school hydrants–was likely inputted wrong.

"There was discussions of the tests Ridgewood Water had conducted recently of the hydrant system at the high school and the recommended flow of the water," Gabbert said. "They recalculated the hydrant flows and ISO realized the figures they were using could have been entered wrong in the flow calculations chart."

Bottom line, Gabbert said, although the current chief reported he was not told of this problem by Bombace, "He can safely say at no time was anybody by the high school was ever in danger."

"The Ridgewood Fire Department has procedures to follow any time there's a problem with the fire hydrant for any reason," the chief said in the March 18 memo.

Fooder reported to the council that decades of tests outside of the one apparently fault ISO test, demonstrated consistent flows year to year. After Ridgewood Water conducted another two tests, it indicated the outlier was not indicative of the true flow levels, he said.

While ISO results in test sheets affect insurance rates, in terms of public safety, Fooder said there's no cause for concern. "As far as being able to successfully extinguish a fire at the high school, basically I can provide more water than your trucks can pump."

The ISO standard for fire hydrant pressure is 4,500 gallons per minute, Bombace said at the March council meeting. Fooder said the actual testing done revealed the hydrant in front of the high school was 4,040 gallons per minute. When asked by Councilman Paul Aronsohn if that level is up to safety standards, Fooder said that's determined by the fire chief, who said he's comfortable with the pressure levels. The other hydrant by the high school registered over 2,600 gallons per minute, above ISO standards, Fooder said.

Ridgewood Water will also be testing other hydrants throughout the village upon completing a valve tightening program to ensure there are no issues elsewhere, Fooder remarked. "Once that's accomplished, all the ISO tests will be re-run and the results presented."