Illinois Success Story

Dry Hydrants Extinguish Pike County Fire
Two Rivers RC&D Provides Key Equipment to Local Fire Departments

By: Jill Creamean, NRCS Public Affairs Specialist
Date: May 2003

Two Rivers Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) in west-central Illinois brought improved rural fire protection to communities in Pike, Calhoun, Brown and Adams Counties in 2002. Two Rivers obtained grant funding to purchase 13 dry hydrants and portable dry hydrants for five rural fire departments.

Dry hydrants attach to a pumper hose and can be placed in any water body to fill pumper trucks for fighting fires. This allows access to water closer to the fire. Just days after the hydrants arrived in September, the Hull-Kinderhook Fire Department in Pike County used a portable dry hydrant to extinguish a grain dryer fire near Hull, IL that threatened to ignite two 100,000 bushel grain bins full of corn. With limited staff, the volunteer fire department was unable to bring a tank truck, and instead pumped water from a nearby pond with a portable hydrant.

"If we had not had the portable dry hydrant, the corn in the bins would have caught fire and we would have been there for days, getting all that corn put out," said Sam Reed, safety officer with the Hull-Kinderhook Fire Department. The dry hydrants enabled the volunteer fire department to access water, to make the most of limited staff, and to save over $500,000 dollars in grain, buildings and equipment. "No fire department should be without the dry hydrants," said Reed.

Two Rivers RC&D has worked with communities since 1972. RC&D is funded and administered through NRCS and provides leadership and technical assistance to citizens, agencies, and organizations that work to improve rural economies and protect natural resources. RC&D areas typically include five or more counties with common geography and common economic and natural resource concerns. RC&D Councils are made up of action-oriented local individuals who volunteer their time and talents. These individuals are citizens, civic leaders, and locally elected officials who determine what the counties need and lead RC&D activities.

Other 2002 RC&D successes include projects that foster rural development and economic enhancement, promote agricultural/environmental education, develop and distribute information on RC&D services, and bring communities and groups together to address economic and resource concerns. To learn more about RC&D successes in your area, visit the NRCS Web site at: www.il.nrcs.usda.gov/NRCShome/rcd/rcd.htm.

Photo Caption: The Hull-Kinderhook Fire Department in Pike County obtained dry hydrants with assistance from Two Rivers RC&D to improve rural fire protection. Days later, a portable dry hydrant was used by volunteer firefighters to extinguish a grain dryer fire and save nearby grain bins and buildings.