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© St. Petersburg Times, published June 29, 2002
It was a vivid image: A burly firefighter swinging an ax at a hydrant in frustration, trying to shake loose the rust so he could put out a raging apartment fire.
Hillsborough fire Capt. Ray Yeakley recalled last year's fire at Chase Crossing Apartments as he explained why the county adopted a strict ordinance requiring annual inspections of privately owned fire hydrants.
"We could have stopped that fire," Yeakley said. "We're an aggressive company."
The Hillsborough fire destroyed four apartments and caused $400,000 in damages, but did not result in any injuries.
Trouble with hydrants has caused problems for local firefighters over the years, but for the most part they have been privately owned hydrants -- not city owned, like those that hindered Clearwater's firefighters at Friday's fatal condo blaze.
Several fire officials said Friday that they don't typically have problems with publicly maintained fire hydrants because they are inspected and serviced annually.
Clearwater's firefighters were hurt by another problem: The condo that burned Friday did not have an interior sprinkler system.
A newly enacted state law requires annual hydrant inspections and sprinkler systems or an acceptable substitute. However, high-rise building owners have 12 years to comply, said Jim Goodloe, fire protection bureau chief for the state Fire Marshal's Office.
In St. Petersburg, many high-rise buildings already have been retrofitted, said Jim Large, St. Petersburg assistant chief and fire marshal. Others, such as the Bayfront Tower, are in the process of putting in sprinkler systems.
"We don't have a lot that aren't, at least to some degree, served by sprinkler systems," Large said.
Installing sprinkler systems in high-rise buildings can be an expensive proposition.
Since the new law took effect in January, Ken Barnes, a fire sprinkler manager at Simplex/Grinnell in Tampa, has seen a 20 percent increase in telephone calls from condominium associations and building owners looking for sprinkler retrofits.
A 30,000-square-foot building would cost between $60,000 and $70,000 to retrofit with sprinklers. Larger buildings, especially those with several floors, are more complicated and expensive. For example, a 150,000-square-foot building would cost between $300,000 and $350,000.
Sprinklers, though, can make the difference in the loss of life and property, Barnes said. In most cases, two sprinklers can control 98 percent of fires.