LUKE MORETTI
WIVB
Reprinted with Permission

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Buffalo firefighters' work was made tougher because of water supply issues near a burning home overnight.

Buffalo's aging water lines sometimes can't keep up with firefighting demands. That was the case overnight when city engineers had to pump up the volume as two vacant houses burned.

In the shadow of Buffalo's Central Terminal, two burned out vacant houses now face an emergency demolition. This was the scene on Sears Street as Buffalo firefighters battled back scorching flames in the middle of the night.

Monique Murphy said, "The water pressure over here sucks."

Murphy lives just a few doors down with her two young children.

"I almost thought they ran out of water last night because it was so many trucks over here. And they had to drive one truck down the street with hoses connected to it to get water from the other end of the streets," explained Murphy.

Water volume, at least in this Buffalo neighborhood, can be a problem, especially on a night when two houses are being consumed by fire.

Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell Whitfield said, "It's an issue, but it's one that we're aware of, and because we're aware of it, we plan for it."

Whitfield says the Sears Street fire required more water than what was initially available from nearby hydrants.

"There are older mains and smaller mains, and when you need a large water supply for a fire such as this, you need some assistance from public works," said Whitfield.

That assistance was needed Tuesday night. Division Chief Don McFeely says city engineers were notified to turn up the water pressure.

McFeely said, "On the initial alarm, we had them do it right away so we got water pretty fast."

Chief City Engineer Peter Merlo says fire and public works personnel are meeting, communicating and training to get a better handle on water volume issues in certain parts of the city.

"You got these new pumpers, great technology, they put demands on our system that our system never has seen before because of this great equipment out there," said Merlo.

Whitfield added, "We have great equipment. We have great people operating that equipment. And we're going to do what we have to do in order to get the water that we need."

Merlo says when the city's doing a new project, the smallest water line installed is eight inches, which is a standard that catches up with today's firefighting technology. He says most of the lines in and around Sears Street are six inches.

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