Hydrant fails in midst of Elizabeth Township fire

Fire Chief Adam Janosko said the township has been plagued by hydrant issues for years.

By JAMES ENGEL
TribLive

Firefighters in Elizabeth Township say they spent more than four hours at the scene of a house fire in the township after a nearby hydrant experienced a “catastrophic failure.”

Crews were dispatched to the fire at the 900 block of Dillon Road just before 4 p.m. Friday, according to a social media post by the Elizabeth Township Fire Department.

The home, which sat off the main roadway, was accessible only by a small bridge with a weight restriction, which allowed only a single truck to approach the blaze initially, the post said.

Crews ran hand lines from other vehicles before the hydrant supplying their efforts failed, according to the post.

The fire department said that caused a “shorter period” without access to water before a secondary supply was established.

Reached Saturday, fire Chief Adam Janosko said the township has been plagued by hydrant issues for years and continues to push for improvements with Pennsylvania American Water, the utility company that maintains them.

But while hydrant problems are nothing new, the chief said the hydrant near Friday’s fire virtually exploded.

“For a hydrant to basically self-destruct like that is unheard of,” he said.

The cause of the failure, Janosko believes, was age and lack of maintenance.

Janosko said Elizabeth Township regularly calls in water tanker trucks from neighboring departments because of the lack of hydrant reliability.

“We need to know the hydrants are going to work,” he said.

Pennsylvania American Water didn’t immediately reply to a Trib-Live request for comment Saturday afternoon.

Despite the extensive damage, the chief said he’s not aware of any injuries as a result of the blaze.

Crews returned to the scene early Saturday to extinguish a part of the home that had reignited, Janosko said.

The Allegheny County Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the fire’s cause.