Apalachicola begins fire hydrant testing

On Monday, March 29, the City of Apalachicola through its engineering firm Inovia Consulting Group started conducting fire hydrant flow and pressure tests on all 200 hydrants within the city's fire protection system.

City Commissioners ordered the tests after learning that five fire hydrants were inoperable during the aftermath of the February 8 blaze that destroyed the historic Wright house located off 16th Street.

The commission chose Inovia Consulting Group, from its pool of engineers to perform the work at the city’s March 2 regular meeting. Based out of Tallahassee and headed by Apalachicola native James Waddell, Inovia is a design firm that provides services in civil engineering, land planning, landscape architecture, environmental permitting, and development management services

In a written proposal submitted by Waddell, the firm plans to conduct the tests in accordance with the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards and guidelines for hydrant testing. This type of testing will not only ensure the protection of both property and lives of Apalachicola residents, but also serve as an evaluation indicator used by the Insurance Services Office (ISO), which rates cities according to the fire protection they offer.

Inovia will report the results of each hydrant in a format to include tabular and graphical results. In addition, the firm will summarize the results with an executive summary, explanation of the testing protocol, and the actual results.

The testing will take about a month to complete and cost the city $20,400 plus any intermittent assistance that may be required by the engineer for quality control purposes.