WILTON – Residents outside of the municipal water system rely, at least in part, on the town’s system of maintained ponds for fire protection.

The town has 28 of them, Fire Chief Don Nourse said last week, but because of the lack of rain “some are dry, some are close, some are fine.”

“It’s a system that is very reliable and we rely on them,” Nourse said. “We maintain them year-round, keep an eye on them.”

But this year, the weather has not cooperated, and the town has imposed an outside watering ban.

The town started an upgrade program for the ponds several years ago, Nourse said. “We’ve been repairing them over the past few years and got a bunch back in service” that had been neglected. “Now we’re waiting for Mother Nature to fill them all back up.”

In addition to the fire ponds, the Fire Department relies on tank trucks and use of a “portable pond,” a large collapsible tank which can be quickly set up at the site of the fire and kept filled by the tankers.

Some of the town’s fire ponds date to the 1950s, Nourse said. “Some were put in by the landowners and later taken over by the town.”

The ponds are accessed through a “dry hydrant,” a pump that hoses can be quickly attached to which also keeps debris from being sucked up by the pump.

“All of the pipes are now plastic,” he said, “which prevents rusting, and they aren’t affected by algae in the ponds.”

The ponds are much easier to use in the summer, he agreed. “It’s a challenge when they’re frozen.”

The Planning Board used to recommend fire ponds with new developments, but now require cisterns for new developments. They are more reliable because of the environmental conditions associated with open ponds. “They have to be in place before building can begin.”

Fire ponds rely on Mother Nature, Nourse said. “And Mother Nature always wins.”

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