Hydrant called into question

(Courtesy photo)

By ARABELLA SERRATA
editor@sbnewspaper.com

The City of San Benito has responded to the latest online video segment produced by Dolcefino Media, a paid content provider headed by a former award-winning broadcast investigator hired by an unknown party to investigate issues involving the Resaca City.

This time, Dolcefino Media released its newest video on San Benito called, “War on Power.” In it, the footage accuses the City of San Benito of negligence for a fire hydrant that allegedly lacked sufficient water pressure to assist in the Mata house fire on North Regan Street which occurred over a month ago.

The video showed Julio and Mystiqua Mata detailing the fire and discussing the fire hydrant issue.

“I thought fire hydrants had to have water in them. I thought it was the City’s job to have everything up to date,” said Julio Mata.

Wayne Dolecefino, head of Dolcefino Media, alleged that the San Benito Fire Department (SBFD) exempted the hydrant issue from its reports. He continued to say Fred Sandoval, City Manager, ignored his team’s emails requesting the City’s hydrant inspection reports.

In response to the video, San Benito City Hall published a post on its Facebook page, clarifying that both fire hydrants around the house were, “fully operational” although one did have low pressure. The post also said hydrants are only used to refill the trucks, as the fire truck water tanks are used first when fighting fires. The post says this is to save “critical” time in emergencies.

The post continues to frown on Dolcefino Media for its handling of the situation. “It is unfortunate that a family, already devastated by the loss of their home just before the Christmas holiday, was misled by this individual into believing their home was lost due to a lack of water,” stated City officials in its post.

Cristina Garcia, Public Information Officer for the City of San Benito, offered some insight on how the City maintains fire hydrants. “The San Benito Fire Department inspects hydrants on an annual basis to properly maintain our water distribution system. During the inspection process, if a hydrant requires attention, a work order is placed with the public works department. “Garcia also shared that there are 14 work orders currently in progress for the 475 fire hydrants located across the City, and 28 new hydrants being purchased this year.

According to Garcia, the firefighters are trained in cases where the hydrant is not operational.

The fire department has enough hose to reach a second hydrant, if necessary, and their apparatus carries up to 1,000 gallons of water. She clarified that the fire hydrants can be used to fight fires directly and to refill trucks after use. Garcia also added that the units responding to the fire on North Regan Street did “not require more water than was available on board the trucks to fight and extinguish that specific fire.”

Meanwhile, Wayne Dolcefino fired back at the City’s post which began by addressing him as a “clout chaser from Houston.”

“Oh, I just saw that I am trying to become famous,” Dolcefino noted on his post. “That’s right. Coming to San Benito on the way to Hollywood. Fred, stay off Facebook. We are sorry you are forced to supposedly live there when you really don’t. Do you?,” Dolcefino quipped, referring to Sandoval’s questionable residence in San Benito.