EDITORIAL
Honolulu must test fire hoses for high-rises

It's getting hot as summer approaches. And if you're living at the top of a 30- or 40-story high-rise, you're going to sleep so much better knowing firefighters have the tried-and-true tools to extinguish a blaze on your floor.

The problem is, Honolulu's fire hoses haven't yet been tested in the field to see if they can handle the pressure needed for water to reach the top of a 30-story high-rise. And that's cause for at least one alarm.

Granted, the hoses have been tested at 250 pounds per square inch, the pressure needed to reach the 25th floor. But that's sort of outmoded on O'ahu, where 71 buildings are 30 stories or higher.

A fire that high up would require 300 pounds per square inch of water pressure, according to Battalion Chief Jim Skellington, whose battalion serves Sunset Beach, Waialua, Mililani Town and Pearl City, and includes two 44-story buildings.

Skellington is specifically concerned about the ground-level hoses that move water from the pumper trucks to an empty pipe that runs the height of a building and can be accessed at each floor.

He says those hoses have not been tested at the higher pressure needed to push water to the 30th floor and beyond. If the pressure is too high, those hoses could rip off at their couplings, which would be disastrous in the event of a fire.

It's like training for a marathon, but running 13 miles instead of 26. A fire department needs to be prepared for a worst-case scenario. You don't want to get to the 30th floor and have a hose with a trickle.

Besides, the Los Angeles Fire Department annually tests its hoses at up to 300 pounds per square inch, according to a department spokesman.

Honolulu Fire Chief Attilio Leonardi, who is looking into the matter, assures us that the hoses have been factory- tested at greater pressures, and can handle the tallest high-rises.

We hope he's right, but why not run a field test just to put high-rise dwellers and firefighters at ease?