Following the recent home fire here in Rossmoor, we’ve had a number of requests from residents for information on the fire hydrants in Rossmoor their maintenance and replacement schedule. We reached out to the Golden State Water Company (GSWC) who owns, maintains, and operates the Rossmoor water distribution system that includes our fire hydrants.
Based on the information from GSWC and OCFA, here’s our understanding of the events.
On the afternoon of Monday, February 10, 2025, multiple Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) firefighting assets were deployed on to extinguish the structure fire at Foster and Gertrude, and were served well by the Rossmoor water distribution system in protection of public health, safety, and property preservation. These OCFA assets utilized multiple fire hydrants from the neighborhood water distribution system during the operations.
According to the OCFA, the flow rate from the hydrants was about 750 gallons per minute. The required hydrant flow rate for residential home areas in Orange County is 500 gallons per minute.
A field investigation performed afterward the fire by GSWC, found that one of the hydrants utilized during the firefight, started leaking at the base near ground level. This is where the portion of the hydrant seen above ground is mechanically connected to the portion that extends below ground.
GSWC operators inspected this hydrant following the fire and found two bolts broken. They replaced all the flange bolts and installed a new flange gasket, making this connection watertight once again. They tested and operated the hydrant, which is now back in full service.
It is unknown if the leak and bolt breaks were caused by the fire hydrant operation and use that evening, or if the bolt integrity was compromised from an unreported, undetected incident, such as a minor vehicle collision or accident, prior to the event.
The characteristics of this type of hydrant, known as a dry barrel hydrant, is that this condition could have occurred at any time during the event or sometime between regular maintenance intervals, which is typically once every three years.
So, while there was a fire hydrant that failed during the initial stages of the fight, according to OCFA Captain Kyle Cain said “Ultimately, we were able to mitigate that by closing the valve in the ground, but it did cause a problem,” he said. “I will say that we, as Orange County Fire Authority, do have contingency plans in the event of loss of water supply.”
Cain said every fire truck carries at least 500 gallons of water, so firefighters immediately began applying water while other units now on the scene found three additional hydrants approximately 350 feet from the Foster Road residence.
“There were three additional fire hydrants within that vicinity, and they were all within approximately 350 feet of that residence,” said Cain. “Each engine carries about 900 feet of supply line, and so that 350 feet from one hydrant to the incident address is well within our capability,” Cain said.
Cain said OCFA had responded with nine engine companies, and four truck companies, one of which has a heavy rescue specialty piece of equipment for search and rescue. He said there were five Battalion Chiefs who responded along with command-and-control personnel.
In 2022 and 2023, Golden State Water Company completed construction of a significant area water main replacement project ($3.2M) directly in Rossmoor, and a fire hydrant replacement project ($1.37M), primarily in Rossmoor and the surrounding cities. Project details are posted on the GSWC website under the “Recently Completed Projects” section. Scroll down to the Ruth Elaine Area Main Replacement Project and the West Orange Fire Hydrant Replacement Project. The overview presentation for these projects is available here.
Combined, these two projects alone, replaced 63 hydrants or nearly 19% of the over 325 hydrants serving the Rossmoor Community, helping to maintain and improve the distribution system reliability. The leaking hydrant in from this incident was not one of the hydrants that was replaced in these projects.
GSWC sated that there is not a similar hydrant or water main replacement project identified in their current rate case recently approved by California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for the Rossmoor Community. The CPUC oversees GSWC rate and revenue requirements with and appropriate infrastructure investments and a fair rate of return for that investment.
Find out more about GSWC’s planned projects in the Los Alamitos Customer Service Area, which includes the surrounding cities and Rossmoor on their website.
One Response
Thank for your thorough, clear, concise and well-written article regarding the recent fire event. I appreciate you!