NewsLocal News

Actions

Low water pressure affecting area firefighters

CCFD combat fire with low water pressure
Posted
and last updated

CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS — Many homeowners and families in Corpus Christi are experiencing the toll of low water pressure. This can also present several challenges to first responders with the Corpus Christi Fire Department when tackling emergencies.

Fire crews say this isn’t the first time they had to respond to situations with low water pressure.

Firefighters say their trucks can hold hundreds of gallons of water, and if need be, crews can use fire hydrants as a source.

“Low water pressure is a significant challenge for us because what that means is less water comes out of the fire hydrant,” said CCFD battalion chief Jim DeVisser.

CCFD says the major source which helps them put out fires are the tanker trucks which can be found with the Annville Fire Department.

“I mean the fire department has so many disciplines, even fire prevention, going out and inspecting buildings and everything that we see a lot of those problems on a daily basis, and so we start to build a data bank of 'I’ve seen this' or 'I’ve seen something similar to this I think this will work',” said DeVisser.

Also, firefighters say the biggest step when having to deal with low water pressure is to pre-plan and know what you need before putting out any fires.

“We knew someday we will be in a situation, where either we don’t have water, we’ve had water main breaks before how are we going to address that? Let’s get a tanker, okay boom hey we got low water pressure call Annaville to see if they can get us a tanker, hey it’s here in an hour, and that problem is solved,” said DeVisser.