public services

Hydrants absent in Coclé

zabdy barría/la prensa

Hot water: Idaan officials received complaints from the Defensoría del Pueblo in Coclé after firefighters in the cities of Aguadulce and Penonomé noted that several downtown areas were lacking an adequate number of fire hydrants.1101222

The Defensoría del Pueblo has launched an investigation into a complaint about a significant lack of fire hydrants in the downtown area of Aguadulce, in the province of Coclé.

Paul Bouche, regional director of the Defensoría in that province, said he began making inspections as soon as he learned of the concerns of the Bomberos de Aguadulce. Bouche, accompanied by Fire Lieutenant José Reyes, visited the locations where hydrants were either problematic or missing altogether.

Those inspections revealed a potentially dangerous dearth of hydrants in public places that attract high concentrations of people, such as near the Hospital Rafael Estévez, the banking area, restaurants and shopping malls. In other locations, the closest hydrant is upward of 500 meters away, meaning firefighters would have to resort to a kind of relay between trucks to attend to a fire.

Following his work with local firefighters, the Defensoría official proceeded to file a complaint of his own, notifying the executive director of the Instituto de Acueductos y Alcantarillados Nacionales (Idaan), Juan Antonio Ducreut.

Bouche said that the director of Idaan will now have 15 working days to respond to the complaint by making a report. That document must make suggestions for resolving the problem, or face a more protracted investigation into the situation, he added, which may show the institution in a bad light. Ducreut said he was aware of the "red-flagged" areas where problem hydrants would need to be replaced.

And Idaan regional director for Coclé, Félix Berrocal, confirmed yesterday by telephone that the agency has allocated $42,000 for the purchase 20 new hydrants for Aguadulce and another 20 for the city of Penonomé, which had been requested by firefighters in the provincial capital. All that remains to be decided is which company will install the devices, he said.