ATLANTA — An 11Alive investigation found more than 1,000 fire hydrants in the metro Atlanta area were broken or inoperable as 2023 comes to a close.
Last year, Atlanta Fire Rescue responded to 43 structure fires in December and January, the peak months for house fires.
Every second counts when firefighters respond to those scenes explained Gwinnett County Fire Captain Ryan McGiboney.
"For a one-story home, fire grows doubles for every minute," he said. "Time is of the essence."
McGiboney added access to water in those moments is critical. When they arrive on scene, crews immediately look for the nearest hydrant to hook up to. Once they find a working hydrant, McGiboney said firefighters can get water flowing within about two minutes.
But there have been cases where they can't access a working hydrant.
In June 2019, 40 people at The Ashford at Stoneridge Apartments in Clayton County were displaced as the complex burned to the ground. The Clayton County Fire Department said firefighters had trouble getting water out of the hydrants.
"We went to the first hydrant that was available– connected to that hydrant: had nothing," Chief Landry Merkison told reporters on scene.
McGiboney said a number of factors can cause a hydrant to not operate correctly.
"We run into occasional issues," McGiboney said. "Sometimes we end up with water outages because there might be a break in the underground structures, the piping, some of it is aging."
11Alive Investigators requested data from several metro counties to determine how many hydrants were broken or inoperable at the time of the records request.
Gwinnett County
Gwinnett County had one of the highest rates of success in the metro, with only 34 hydrants out of service of about 47,000.
“Every hydrant gets looked at and inspected and repaired if there's an issue with it every three years," explained Jeff Callaway, Division Director of Operations for Gwinnett Water Resources.
Callaway said he believes the county's success in part is due to Water Resources taking on the responsibility of maintaining the hydrants.
“In 2012, we shifted from the fire department maintaining these to water resources maintaining these," he explained. "We said we'll take them and let the fire department fight fires."
Clayton County
In Clayton County, of their 11,186 hydrants, 32 needed to be fixed at the time of the records request.
Lamar Hamlin, water and sewer director for Clayton County Water Authority, said they check every hydrant in the county every 3 to 4 years.
“They go bad from time to time," he said. “Having them maintained for the safety of our constituents is very imperative. It's very important that these work when there's a fire."
Cobb County
In Cobb County, records showed 164 of 32,359 fire hydrants in unincorporated Cobb were listed as broken or inoperable.
City of Atlanta
At the same time, in the City of Atlanta, 715 hydrants needed to be repaired, of 26,307. That's the highest rate of inoperable hydrants of all the metro counties that provided data.
A 2019 audit found Atlanta Fire Rescue and Watershed Management didn't properly communicate about hydrant maintenance, resulting in incomplete repairs and inspections.
The report found two-thirds of repair requests were not properly reported. Watershed Management confirmed their agency is responsible for the maintenance and repair of public hydrants, while inspections are the responsibility of the Atlanta Fire Department.
In a statement, the City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management said, "The existence of work orders does not necessarily indicate that the hydrant is not functioning but may suggest a leak or some other issue."
The statement continued: "Providing high-quality water services is crucial to the health and prosperity of our community, and we take this responsibility very seriously."
“The last thing you want to worry about is, 'Where am I going to get water to my guys on the inside?' Who are fighting this fire and searching for victims," McGiboney explained. “It's life safety and life safety is serious. There’s always that 'what if' scenario.”
McGiboney said when a hydrant on scene isn’t working, they automatically search for the next closest. If no nearby hydrants are functional or accessible, he explained they have the ability to call for a water tender.
"It's basically a huge water tanker," he explained. "It's full all the time and it is staffed. It is positioned centrally in the county.”
While rural areas often have more sporadic hydrant access, McGiboney said other factors can slow them down, too.
“People think it's cute to paint them up to look a certain way but if it's mis-painted, we may not even try to connect to it," he explained.
"They'll put the tall monkey grass around it. We're not going to spend a whole lot of time looking. These are things that are affecting your neighbors and it's affecting how effective we can be on scene," McGiboney added.
You likely pass by several fire hydrants a day without a second thought, but each one is a critical lifeline you want on your corner when it counts.
If you have a concern about the functionality or accessibility of a hydrant near your home or business, you can report it in the following ways:
- City of Atlanta: ATL311.com or call 311 inside city limits, 404-546-0311 outside the city limits.
- Clayton County: Contact CCWA at 770-960-5200.
- Gwinnett: Visit Customer Care for more information, or contact Customer Care at 678.376.6800 or dwrcare@gwinnettcounty.com.
- Cobb County: Call the Customer Call Center at 770-419-6200 during office hours of 7:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. For after-business-hour emergencies, contact the Emergency Dispatch line at 770-419-6201.
- Henry County: Call HCWA Customer Service Phone: 770-957-6659.
- DeKalb County: Report 24 Hour Emergencies at 770-270-6243 or email dekalbwaterops@dekalbcountyga.gov.
- Cherokee County: Questions about fire hydrant access can be directed to the County Fire Marshal's office at 678-493-6290.