Firefighters are taking some grief over a house fire on Martha’s
Vineyard (Cape Cod, Mass) on New Year’s Day. Firefighters responding to the house fire in Oak Bluffs lost
valuable time when they tried to hook up to a hydrant that turned out to
be a lawn ornament. “It was a real fire hydrant,” Deputy Chief Tony R.
Ferriera said… “We just didn’t know it wasn’t a working hydrant until
we tried to hook up to it.” The hydrant, which was around the corner from the
burning home, was reportedly inside a dog pen. Chief Ferriera acknowledged
questions from critics and defended his crews, saying they are all volunteers
and can’t be expected to know the locations of every hydrant in town. A
person representing the homeowner also defended the firefighters, saying in the
heat of the moment, with adrenaline rushing, firefighters are going to do
anything they can to try and extinguish a fire-including USING A HYDRANT. How about we not use a hydrant as a lawn ornament. There were no injuries from the fire, but the home suffered serious damage.
