Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 27, 1995 TAG: 9504270058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"There was not all the volume we needed out of that one," he said. The hydrant, at Jefferson Street and Gilmer Avenue, was supplied by the smallest main, just 4 inches in diameter.
Gilmer Avenue residents watched firefighters struggle to get water on spot fires on their street Saturday, as fiery embers drifted from the church onto their property. Some said this week they wondered if hydrants could serve their neighborhood - one of the city's oldest - in the event of fire.
Overall, Snead said, water volume and pressure were strong during the fire and Gainsboro residents should not worry about the safety of their homes. "We were pumping over 3,000 gallons a minute," he said. "That's a lot of water."
Saturday's fire destroyed the roof and most of the interior of the 1898 National Historic Landmark church and spread to four homes on Gilmer Avenue.
A source in the Roanoke Fire Department said the hydrant at Jefferson and Gilmer was so overworked that it could supply no water immediately when the fire spread to the homes.
Instead, crews laid a hose to a hydrant more than a block away. By then, the fire had burned much of the roof off an uninhabited house the city had spent approximately $200,000 to move last year from nearby Wells Avenue. The fire also did minor damage to three other homes.
The department source said that heavy draw by three engines at a hydrant at Jefferson and Harrison Avenue also reduced its pressure to almost nothing.
Snead said that among the seven hydrants used, three are fed by 6-inch mains, two are fed by 8-inch mains, one by a 4-inch main and one - on Hotel Roanoke property - by a 10-inch main. Craig Sluss, the city's water distribution manager, said the mains are connected to a 36-inch water line nearby.
Snead said water volume generally was so good during the fire that there was concern the heavy load of water could cause the church walls to collapse. The steeple fell in the blaze, but the bell tower and four main walls remain. Some engineers have told church leaders that most of the remaining structure can be saved.
A consultant's report last fall criticized Roanoke's fire hoses as being too small and its water flow rates too low to do the best job. "Equipment in use is 20 years behind in technology," said consultants with CenPenn Systems of Harrisburg, Pa., hired by the city to critique the Fire Department and the city's Emergency Medical Services.
Asked how Saturday's fire might have gone if fire trucks had been equipped with larger hoses, Snead said, "We might have got it out quicker, but I don't know that."
The consultants noted that high-tech hoses and other equipment are expensive "and the Fire Department does have a limited budget for equipment purchase. However, in the last 20 years, the Department has purchased 12 new pumpers. Simply equipping each new engine with the larger hose size would have put the Department in a much better position today."
Two people from the city fire marshal's office collected samples from the church Wednesday for analysis in their investigation. Snead said they were looking for residue of gasoline, kerosene or other accelerants often used by arsonists, but he said it's too early to say that investigators definitely suspect arson.
Police and the Fire Department are investigating a broken window at the rear of the church and the possibility of a break-in before the fire.
First Baptist built a new church a block away in 1982 and leased the old church to artists and dramatists who were turning it into a cultural center called Arts Place at Old First. The city had provided a $50,000 grant, and the Arts Place board had raised an equal amount in private funds for a renovation that began three years ago. Arts Place had planned to hold children's arts classes in the church this summer.
by CNB