The Scotia Fire Department responded to almost 30 false alarms in June. Fire officials say the calls that started after a change in water pressure at The Glenville Business and Technology Park are straining the department’s resources.
In June, the Town of Glenville began supplying water to the park in Scotia – an industrial zone that’s home to multiple businesses, including Adirondack Beverages, Latham Pools and EWASTE+.
But that change in water supply has led to a surge in fire department calls.
Scotia Fire Chief David Wood says when Glenville began supplying the water – supply that used to come from the Village of Scotia – water pressure increased in the industrial zone. The problem, Wood explains, is that the sprinkler systems in the commercial park’s buildings are integrated with an alarm that monitors changes in water pressure.
The idea behind this design is to create a system that detects high water pressure, because high pressure could indicate water flowing through a buildings’ sprinklers, signaling a possible fire.
But Wood says the high-water pressure has been tripping the alarm system. And often. In fact, Wood says his crew – a mix of volunteers and paid staff – responded to 28 false alarms in June – nearly one every day.
And firefighters must respond to the alarms, because they don’t know before arriving whether it’s an actual emergency, Wood said.
“You never know what you’re rolling into, so it’s the same response we would go to any fire alarm anywhere else,” he said.
Tom Gifford is a volunteer firefighter and a former Scotia mayor.
He says the amount of false alarm calls is a waste of the department’s resources.
“We’ve expended quite a lot of effort and expense on behalf of the fire department and the Village to run around. Every time you get one of those and hire people back on overtime and you run out and found out its just a ghost,” he said.
Chief Wood says the town has been made aware of the issue, and Glenville’s Water Department has had to fix other problems related to the water supply change.
“We have had a couple of water leaks that are presumed to have been caused by the increased water pressure,” he said.
But Glenville officials are brushing aside concern. In fact, town leaders and engineers overseeing the water-supply project say the change in water pressure is actually meant to help mitigate fire risk.
Jake Fogarty, an engineer for Delaware Engineering, says some businesses have requested increased water pressure to meet fire code requirements. He says the pressure was around 60 psi when Scotia supplied the park’s water.
“We’re increasing the pressure to about 100 psi to a little over 100 psi depending on the amount of water being used,” he said.
Fogarty says the alarms could be set off for a variety of reasons.
“They are getting a higher pressure, and as a result when the water comes into the system, there might have been some breaks in the water line due to pipes maybe not being restrained because they didn’t have as much pressure as before,” he said.
Acting Glenville Town Supervisor Robert Kirkham Jr says the project was approved by the Department of Health in 2023.
“This is a project that has really been in the works for quite some time, to meet the demands for these industrial businesses, for their fire suppression requirements,” he said.
Kirkham says the increased water pressure helps businesses meet fire-suppression codes.
“This is an enhancement for us to be able to provide this added level of protection to these businesses,” he said.
As for the false alarms, Kirkham says worries have subsided.
“I think that most businesses have that under control now,” he said.
