Saturday, November 8, 2025

The Case of the Phantom Fire Hydrants

Judge Wingate held a status update on the Jackson water system that lasted all day Wednesday  Much was discussed, including JXN Water's proposed rate hike.  Instead of publishing one monster post, JJ is breaking the proceedings down into more manageable bites.  

JXN Water reported eight percent of fire hydrants inspected were not working during a status update on Jackson's water/sewer system in U.S. District Court Wednesday.  

U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate spent nearly the entire first hour of the day-long hearing discussing what else but fire hydrants.  JXN Water Manager Ted Henifin said there are 10,012 fire hydrants in Jackson.  JXN Water has inspected 4,421 hydrants.  3,160 were in service while 738 hydrants were did not exist even though they were on the map.  

8% (360) of hydrants inspected were out of service. Mr. Henifin said they were scattered throughout the city and not concentrated in one area.  They are quickly repaired after a failed inspection. 139 hydrants were inaccessible for testing as they were behind a locked fence or other obstructions.  There are 66 private fire hydrants in Jackson.  

Mr. Henifin said the city had no records of fire hydrants nor their maintenance when he assumed responsibility for them.  Although Mr. Henefin inventoried 10,012 hydrants, the city of Jackson told him there were only a little more than 4,000 hydrants.  Yes, the city of Jackson did not have a clue as to how many fire hydrants it had.  

JXN Water expects to complete inspecting fire by the end of 2027.  One troubling fact mentioned in court is the Jackson Fire Department failed to color code fire hydrants, a standard practice in fire safety.  

The National Fire Protection Association classifies fire hydrants by capacity.  Colors are assigned to capacity levels.  NFPA recommends using the classification system but some department's such as Jackson, choose not to do so. 


Mr. Henifin said JXN Water tapes non-working hydrants when discovered.   Several fire chiefs said color-coding of fire hydrants is practiced much more in the North than it is in the South.  

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hydrants? We don't have no stinkin' hydrants.

Anonymous said...

This is not surprising. The fire
Department can’t suppress structure fires, much less get off their fat asses to test hydrants.

Then, leave it to public
Works to repair/replace?

Good luck with that, Jackson.

You get what you voted for.

Anonymous said...

These are the same amateur who use 1-1/2" lines on a structure fire and are too lazy to property suit up, i.e. no SCBA.

Anonymous said...

Now the hydrants need to work, because that is where all the folks that get cut off will be getting their water.

Anonymous said...

Easy does it there, fear mongers. It isn't uncommon for larger cities to not have an accurate inventory of their hydrants. Atlanta has over 1000 of them that are broken or inoperable. List goes on from there. At least after this, we'll be one of the cities that DOES know how many we have and where they are. Calm down, k?

Anonymous said...

"Mr. Henifin said the city had no records of fire hydrants nor their maintenance when he assumed responsibility for them."

Did these records exist at one time, but were lost? Or did the city never compile this information?

Anonymous said...

But, but- the big leak at the Zoo has been repaired

Anonymous said...

I thought the Lumumba admin painted the fire hydrants rainbow colors.

Anonymous said...

Anyone want to write fire insurance in the COJ ?

Anonymous said...

There was a city ordinance that all hydrants were to be inspected yearly. JFD has never done that. The COJ had a couple of lawsuits back around 2003-2004 over houses lost in fires when the nearby hydrants were dry.

Anonymous said...

That's interesting on the color designation. I didn't know that. I've seen different colors but never knew why.

Anonymous said...

12:30- Are you serious? Absolutely any city should regularly locate, test, inspect, and inventory their hydrant system. Go introduce yourself to the many NFPA regs that address this.

You are just accustomed to low-performing and lazy cities run by democrats.

Anonymous said...

Fire Hydrant isn't a football term for grossly overfed linesmen who lunge and grunt?

Anonymous said...

How does a fire hydrant “not work”? There is nothing electrical or mechanical other than the large screw like piece you simply unscrew.

Anonymous said...

How much did they pay for those imaginary hydrants? Is this another way Lamumber looted the treasury?

Anonymous said...

Under these conditions, Jackson Fire Department will never loose a chimney!

Anonymous said...

I actually miss Antard's pressers when such facts would come to light.
LaMumba the 2nd would always spout the same nonsensical, goofy & babbling ignorant phrases that would impress his voters.

Right ?

Anonymous said...

It isn't uncommon for larger cities to not have an accurate inventory of their hydrants. Atlanta has over 1000 of them that are broken or inoperable.

Links?

Anonymous said...

12:30 did you just use Atlanta as a comparative example? LOL. Atlanta is a cesspool.

Anonymous said...

"Atlanta has over 1000 of them that are broken or inoperable."

Jackson has 10,000 hydrants, and an estimated 8% are out of service, for a total of 800, among a population of 150,000.

That's about 530 non-functional hydrants per 100,000 people.

You say Atlanta have over 1,000 hydrants out of service, with a population of 550,000.

That's about 182 non-functional hydrants per 100,000 people.

So in other words, Jackson's fire hydrant outage rate is about 2.9 times as bad as Atlanta. And Atlanta isn't exactly a model of good governance.

Anonymous said...

They also will never lose one.

Anonymous said...

To maintain their insurance fire rating, the city would’ve been required to submit documentation of inspections to the MSRB. What did they give them?

Anonymous said...

I'm sure those missing hydrants are at the homes of the county's past politicians. Did you check dates on past public purchase records?

Anonymous said...

Never seen that color code system. Hydrant in front of my house in Brandon is white, as are almost all of them in town. Based on the flow, most hydrants should be orange and I’m not sure I ever saw one!

Hookah said...

the real bad guys Siemens - McNeil/Rhoads - Mueller

Anonymous said...

I've seen white and red ones. Never knew why.

Anonymous said...

A guy I knew from Prentiss told me in 1976 a lady painted fire hydrants to look like little Revolutionary War soldiers. True story.


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