One day after firefighters from the Orange County Fire Authority battled a blaze in Rossmoor, a representative appeared at the regularly scheduled Board of Directors meeting to provide a detailed report to the community on the massive fire.
The Feb. 10 blaze had occurred at 12501 Foster Road the day before the regularly scheduled monthly meeting of the RCSD Board, so Board President Nathan Searles introduced Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Kyle Cain to provide additional details.
“It was quite a remarkable fire,” said Cain, noting that the first of many units to respond arrived five to ten minutes after receiving the alarm.
“There were lots of challenges we faced,” said Cain, including the water supply caused by a fire hydrant that malfunctioned.
Cain said that although firefighters had reached the home in minutes, the first hydrant near the home that firefighters hooked hoses had malfunctioned.
“What they found is, when they hooked up to that hydrant, they experienced a catastrophic failure, which is very uncommon,” said Cain.
“We do experience some problems with hydrants, no matter where you are,” said Cain, suggesting it can happen “in any community.”
“What we experienced with this one is that it was a catastrophic failure where the hydrant itself meets the pipe coming out of the ground.”
“Ultimately, we were able to mitigate that by closing the valve in the ground, but it did cause a problem,” he said. “I will say that we, as Orange County Fire Authority, do have contingency plans in the event of loss of water supply.”
He said every fire truck carries at least 500 gallons of water, so firefighters immediately began applying water while other units now on the scene found three additional hydrants approximately 350 feet from the Foster Road residence.
“There were three additional fire hydrants within that vicinity, and they were all within approximately 350 feet of that residence,” said Cain.
“Each engine carries between 900 feet of supply line, and so that 350 feet from one hydrant to the incident address is well within our capability,” Cain told the board.
There were no problems with water pressure loss once the water supply had been re-established, Cain told the Board.
He said all the remaining hydrants utilized were pumping appropriately, which the firefighter estimated was a flow rate of about 750 gallons per minute.
Other units on the scene had placed a ladder to the 2nd story of the home to rescue a woman trapped on the second story of the home, said Cain. The woman was stabilized and sent to the hospital in stable condition, he said.
Officials have not released the name of the woman rescued, OCFA Public Information Officer Capt. Thanh Nguyen said this week. Doing so may violate federal HIPA law since the woman was treated at a local hospital for injuries received during the ordeal, he said.
“Thank you for containing the fire to a single structure,” said Board President Nathan Searles. “I think that was quite an accomplishment,” he said, noting that OCFA prevented nearby structures from catching fire in this highly populated neighborhood.
In all, Cain said OCFA had responded with nine engine companies, and four truck companies, one of which has a heavy rescue specialty piece of equipment for search and rescue. He said there were five Battalion Chiefs who responded along with command-and-control personnel.
Director Tony Demarco expressed concern about the hydrant failure, saying the board went through a hydrant replacement program a year or two ago, saying the water company is responsible for the hydrants,
According to records, water service in Rossmoor is provided by Golden State Water.
“The obvious question is how many other hydrants are going to fail,” said Demarco, adding that “we should probably find out who is responsible for our hydrants and ask them to check the hydrants.”
Cain said water flow and hydrant maintenance is not the responsibility of OCFA, suggesting that it was either the water company or OC Public Works.
“I can say anecdotally that hydrant failures do occur, but it is not frequent,” said Cain. “We are training to plan for the worst,” he added.
Directors Jo Shade and Mary Ann Remnet thanked Capt. Cain for OCFA’s quick and effective response to the residential blaze.
“I saw it all unfold, and it was an incredible response,” said Shade.
Cain said the fire should be a reminder to everyone in the community.
“With this particular incident,” said Cain, “I think it drives home the importance to the public, even in their homes, to maintain a good fire safety plan to make everyone make it out safely (in the event of a fire). “
On a related matter, General Manager Joe Mendoza told the Board that he had recently surveyed with OC transportation officials an area of concern near the border of the district seeking to have weeds and brush removed to eliminate a potential fire hazard.
