In the early morning hours of Oct. 4, a driver going the wrong way on the one-way street of Normal Avenue in Oneonta crashed into the carport of Jen Gilmore’s house.
Gilmore awoke with the collision, looked out a window at the car, which had pushed her vehicle onto the lawn, and went outside with her dog.
There she watched as the car that struck her house erupted into flames, igniting everything around it — her car, the carport beams, the fence, nearby trees.
The siding on her house began to melt. The wooden beams supporting the carport’s metal roof gave way, sending the roof crashing down onto the vehicle that struck her house.
Gilmore was shocked at the scene unfolding before her. Neighbors arrived who were woken up by the sound of the crash, including Common Council member David Rissberger.
Police and fire crews were dispatched at 4:35 a.m. to the scene.
Oneonta Fire Chief Brian Knapp said Tuesday, Nov. 7 that Oneonta police arrived on the scene first. While fire personnel were getting ready, dispatchers came back and said that the vehicle was on fire and it was spreading to a neighbor’s home.
A county ambulance was called to assist while Oneonta fire crews were en route.
Knapp said that once on the scene, fire crews intervened and cooled the house before it caught on fire, stretching a line to the fire hydrant.
The city ambulance did not transport anyone to a hospital. The county EMS evaluated one person at the scene who refused medical attention, and another person didn’t want to talk to EMS.
Oneonta Police Lt. Eric Berger said Wednesday, Nov. 8 that the vehicle that struck the carport was a Ford Escape. Inside was the driver and one passenger.
The driver, Justin Hill, 30, of Oneonta, was arrested for driving while intoxicated. No other arrests were made.
Berger said that there was no mention of the vehicle’s speed in the police report.
Fire hydrants from 1930s
At the time, Gilmore thought she observed something wrong with the fire hydrant.
Knapp said that while the hydrant worked, when it was shut it off firefighters noticed the stem was backing out of it, which meant it needed to be replaced.
Oneonta Public Works Director Christopher Yacobucci said Wednesday that the hydrant stem had broken at the operating nut, which occurred when the firefighters tried to open the hydrant. The hydrant was replaced Oct. 12.
Yacobucci said that “encountering a broken hydrant during a fire event is a rare occurrence.”
Gilmore took the matter to Rissberger, who took it to City Administrator Greg Mattice.
Rissberger emailed Mattice on Oct. 13 to ask if the city was aware there were issues with the hydrant before the fire, when the city last tested the hydrant and the impact of this incident on the city’s insurance.
Mattice replied after conferring with DPW on Oct. 23, saying that DPW was unaware of any issues with the hydrant on Normal Avenue until after the fire.
That particular hydrant was one of the oldest-style hydrants in the city’s fire hydrant system, he said. It was installed in 1933.
There are 447 city-owned fire hydrants. Of these, at least 73 are the same oldest-style hydrant like on Normal Avenue — at least 16 percent.
Yacobucci said that the majority of the older hydrants from the 1930s are located in center city and the east end with others located throughout the city sporadically.
“We have been replacing these opportunistically,” Mattice said, “[such as] when we have a nearby water main replacement or street project, or if one is found to no longer function properly or leak, budget permitting.”
Mattice did not say when the Normal Avenue hydrant was last flushed, but that the comprehensive hydrant flushing program developed several years ago has not been implement fully, due to the time restraints from short staffing and the new way of flushing that tends to cause “some pretty bad turbidity issues in some areas of the system” — meaning cloudy or hazy water.
“As an alternative, we’ve continued flushing the ‘old way’ each year to at least get something done, although we hope to expand on this if fully-staffed,” he said.
Either way, the city is not flushing every single hydrant in the city, he said. The newer-style hydrants are touched every year for basic maintenance but not necessarily opened, while the older-style hydrants do not require the same maintenance and are not touched every year.
The goal would be to conduct hydrant flow testing on each hydrant once every five years, he said.
In addressing the question about insurance, as long as the city was not negligent in some way — such as ignoring a known non-functioning hydrant — the city’s insurance should cover a claim.
“It goes without saying we have a great need to upgrade our water distribution system — not only replacing old hydrants, but mains, valves, services, etc.,” Mattice said. “This is a task that will likely not be complete in our lifetimes.”
Progress can be made now, he said, with “steady, smart investment” in routine maintenance and capital improvements. The increase in water rates during the past few years is beginning to make a difference, he said, citing the inclusion of $100,000 in transfers to capital projects in the 2024 draft city budget.
Knapp said that he’s “not seeing any trend” of showing up at the scene of a fire and the hydrant is not giving water.
Despite this, Gilmore feels the public should be aware of the situation.
“I think the taxpayers should know the fire hydrants are not being properly maintained on a consistent basis,” Gilmore said, “and this could cause a lot more damage and potentially cost lives.”