Fire Company raises concerns for water access over crumbling bridge

PORTAGE, Pa. (WTAJ)– The Blue Knob Volunteer Fire Cony is raising concerns over being unable to access their main water supply because it is on the other side of a deteriorating bridge.

The Blair County bridge along Chappell Road in Juniata Township is crumbling, even shaking when people stand on it. Because of that the weight limit of the bridge has been lowered multiple times, now set at eight tons.

“Also in that area on the other side of that bridge is what we call a dry hydrant. It’s our main water supply for the entire community,” Bruce Walters, Captain with the Blue Knob Volunteer Fire Company said.

Walters says that all of the trucks that they have are more than double the current weight limit, preventing them from being able to reach the dry hydrant on the other side. This has left the department with a choice.

“Either bring water in from other areas or violate the weight restriction and take the chance of having the bridge collapse with one of our fire apparatus,” Walters said.

Across the bridge, there is another lane where that reaches the dry hydrant from the main road, but it is private and closed off. It also doesn’t get plowed in the winter.

You may be wondering why the department doesn’t just stretch the hose across the bridge to reach the dry hydrant. Walters says that because it is not a pressurized hydrant, and when they do set up hard suction hoses to access it it is the truck is only able to draw water for 28 feet, which is not far enough.

Walters says that the second closest place for them to draw water from is nearly five miles away, which could cause issues in their response times.

“In Blue Knob you’re either going up the mountain or you’re going down so that just adds extra risk involved in trucking the water in,” Walters said. “We haven’t had any issues yet in responding but that could happen within minutes of this interview.”

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WTAJ did reach out to the Blair County Commissioner’s office about this issue and hasn’t received a response yet. For now, Walters says he is just hoping that the community and the company’s members stay safe.

“We fight fire diferently when we have a water supply than when we don’t have a water supply,” Walters said. “So we’re not going to risk our members to take unnecessary chances, and so absolutely the public safety just decreases greatly.”

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