Kansas City woman discovers hydrant in front of home broken after fire
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Amica Brock said she always took comfort in knowing there was a hydrant sitting in front of her home. Something that often lowers homeowner insurance rates because hydrants can play a key role in efficiently fighting fires.
But when Brock’s home caught fire last December, she learned the truth about that hydrant she had relied on to protect her. The beginning of the fire was captured on her Ring doorbell.
Brock, who was away from home getting her hair done, saw the men, who she had hired to remove a tree from her backyard, yelling for help. Then she saw smoke and flames.
She called the Kansas City Fire Department as she rushed back to her house on E. 62nd Street. Once she arrived, there was more bad news. A firefighter told her he’d checked the hydrant in front of her home — and it was broken.
“We’re all looking, and he said, ‘There’s no water,'” she said.
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The video showed firefighters putting up ladders while they waited for a pumper truck with 1,500 gallons of water to arrive.
“They were already fighting the fire,” Brock said. “That’s what I’m saying their lives were in danger with no water.”
By that time, the fire, which according to a fire department report, appeared to have started in the driveway when the tree workers’ truck burst into flames, had spread inside her home.
Brock said about half her home was destroyed. That’s something she believed would not have happened if the hydrant had been working. KCFD strongly disputed that.
A firefighter told FOX4 that KCFD is supposed to check every hydrant yearly, which is also recommended by a national fire safety group.
But, according to city records requested by FOX4 Problem Solvers, the hydrant in front of Brock’s house hadn’t been checked in more than three-and-a-half years.
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It wasn’t until after Problem Solvers requested inspection records, that it was inspected again. That inspection showed it “working” but with “defects.” The city didn’t respond to our request for an explanation as to what “defects” meant.
This wasn’t the first time Kansas City firefighters have been confronted with a troubled hydrant.
When a church went up in flames in 2018, at least two nearby hydrants were broken. Multiple broken hydrants also were found near a house fire that same year.
All the fires, including Brock’s, took place on Kansas City’s east side – the side of town most likely to have a structure fire, according to the fire department.
Broken hydrants are a problem in Kansas City – so much so that in 2018 the city earmarked $3 million to get them repaired. So far, more than 7,000 hydrants have either been repaired or replaced with 1,300 more still waiting.
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The city told FOX4 in a statement that “Kansas City has over 25,000 fire hydrants across 320 square miles. Nearly 98% of hydrants are in good working condition.”
But how reliable is that 98% claim? Remember, the hydrant in front of Brock’s house hadn’t been inspected in more than 3 years.
Problem Solvers asked the city for the last 4 years’ worth of inspection records for the five other hydrants near Brock’s home near East 62nd Street and Jackson Avenue. All had only been inspected once more than 3 years ago.
Three of them were inspected a second time after we asked for inspection records.
Problem Solvers never got an answer as to why more than 3 years passed between inspections.
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Kansas City Fire Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins said the lack of a working hydrant would not have mattered in Amita Brock’s case. He said every truck has its own water supply.
Brock insisted, however, that the first truck that arrived at her house waited for a second truck before it started using its hoses.
What would have happened if the fire had spread beyond her house? Would the water stored on the fire trucks been enough to extinguish it?
Brock said she always felt safe knowing there was a hydrant near her home. Now she doesn’t know what to think.
