A story on the front page of Thursday’s edition of the Chesterton Tribune has apparently lit a fire at Indiana-American Water Company (IAWC).

As the Tribune reported, at Wednesday’s meeting of the Burns Harbor Town Council, Fire Chief Bill Arney said that he has being waiting months to receive records from IAWC on hydrant inspections and maintenance. Those records are vital to the town’s ISO rating, which quantifies the Fire Department’s training and readiness, equipment, response times, and other factors—like fire hydrant maintenance—to give Burns Harbor a rating which directly affects homeowners’ insurance premiums.

Arney told the council at that meeting that he had made repeated calls to “higher ups” at IAWC but still had gotten no response.

On Friday, however, the day after the Tribune reported the situation, IAWC delivered a first consignment of records to the BHVFD and is expected to deliver another batch today, Arney told the Tribune this morning. In addition, he said, an IAWC crew inspected all hydrants on Friday, found a couple in need of repair, and was scheduled to return today to complete those repairs.

“They’re doing a real good job,” Arney said. “I’ve got more records than I’ve ever had before.”

Posted 9/17/2007