Water Flow at City Hydrants Slows House Fire Defense
Mineral Wells Fire Department was called to the 2100 Block of SE 21st around 12:50pm on Sunday, March 5th for reports of a house fire. Chief Ryan Dunn said Ladder 2 was the first unit on scene because all other first responders were on other calls at the time. Upon arrival, the home was fully involved and quickly became a defensive fire. Unfortunately, the four member crew ran into some difficulties in their initial defense.
“Ladder 2 attempted to hook up to numerous hydrants in the area and none of them had sustainable flows to supply water to our apparatus,” said Dunn.
Dunn told Mineral Wells Area News their water supply truck, known as a tender, is down due to mechanical failure and it was necessary to call in neighboring agencies for their tenders.
A large plume of smoke was visible on the south side of the city and clearly caught the curiosity of many. Onlooker traffic, windy conditions, and crowded narrow streets were not helpful to first responders.
“The house is a total loss and investigation is being done. Fortunately there were no injuries,” Dunn said.
Dunn said he was told the water has been restored to the hydrants and no indication yet what the problem was at the hydrants.
