By Rebecca Dopp
Times-News Correspondent
After a month of consideration the Levan Town Council
has decided not to put in the high-volume fire hydrants that
were proposed in the June meeting.
Lynn and Kent Bateman, fire fighters, had previously
told the council that with the installation of the
irrigation pipeline, now was the time to put in the hydrants
and possibly get a better ISO rating and lower premiums.
However, the council felt that liablity issues far
outweighed the benefits of the high-volume hydrants.
"The only disadvantage that I can see," said Mayor Bob
Shepherd, "is that if in some event there wasn't any water
there, and you'd hooked up [to the hydrant], and you
didn't have enough water to do the job, then you have the
liability problem."
Brian Ercanbrack, council member, said that in the
prior meeting they had discussed keeping the fire chief
aware of the water supply, but that in reality, it was
impossible to keep him and everyone else on the fire
department informed.
Also, the irrigation company did not want to take on
the liability. They could not always guarantee there would
be water available in case of an extreme fire.
"I think we should just work on our own system and try
to upgrade it in the next few years," said council member
Brady Taylor.
Ercanbrack said that the only place a high-volume
hydrant would be needed is near the church and the town
hall.
He also said that Lynn Bateman told him there was no
way to gage what kind of insurance rating the town would get
if they installed the hydrants.
"It's tough to place a lot of hope in that,"
Ercanbrack said. "If it was going to save everyone $500 on
their insurance, then it would be something to look at, but
I think we'd be better off improving our own system."
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