YORK COUNTY, Pa. — Firefighters in rural areas often do not have access to water hydrants, so instead, they rely on natural bodies of water such as ponds and streams. Amid an especially dry summer, some of those sources of water are running dangerously low.
Officials from Fairfield Fire and EMS in Adams County said some of their water sources were currently unusable.
“There are some creeks that have dried completely up. There are some that are just a trickle,” said Fairfield Fire Chief Bill Jacobs. “You might have to draft in one spot for a while and then try to find another, more reliable source.”
Ira Walker Jr., a former chief and current member of the Eureka Volunteer Fire Department in York County, said the department maintains a map of water sources so that they can quickly find another one if necessary.
In addition, the department received a grant in 2018 to install five “dry hydrants” to more efficiently draw water from streams in the area.
“They’re nothing but glorified straws, if you will,” Walker said. “You just simply have to put the straw in the water and then use the pump’s capability to pull the water from a pond, stream or whatever into the apparatus and then we’re able to pump it to the fire scene or to a tanker.”
Even dry hydrants aren’t immune to falling water levels, however.
“We can’t have a small puddle. It has to have a little bit of depth to be able to suck the water effectively,” Walker said.
Rural fire departments have backup plans that include calling other fire companies for help, though that can increase response time.
“The only thing we can do is call more tankers from farther away,” said Jacobs.
Facing potentially more hot summers in the future, state Bureau of Forestry officials said rural fire departments may need to adapt in the long run.
Wildfire fighting techniques, for example, already account for no nearby water sources.
“We use a lot more smaller portable pumps, smaller diameter hose than you would see on a structure fire, things are more portable and easier to carry,” said Mike Kern, chief forest fire warden of the Pa. Division of Forest Fire Protection.
Firefighters urged people to be especially cautious to not accidentally start a wildfire during periods of drought.