Hydrant pg 1 10-6-11
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- Category: Past Issues
caption:
Installed
East Putnam Fire Department Lt. Aaron Archambault and Greg Kozey, president of Kochek, install a Kochek hydrant converter at the Industrial Park with town and company officials standing in the background. Courtesy photo.
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM --- It turned out to be a win-win situation, building morale, the local economy, and community safety.
Kochek Co. Inc. had been selling hydrant converters around the country, according to East Putnam Fire Department Chief Abe Walker.
The East Putnam Fire Department had been helping with testing and more, he added, and "we had been helping each other back and forth."
The idea of putting the hydrant converters all around the Putnam Industrial Park came up and after some grants were obtained, about 20 of them are being installed at the park.
Kochek wins as potential customers driving to Kochek see the converters as they come into the park.Fire departments win because the hydrant converters cuts the time it takes to attach a hose to the hydrant.
According to Kochek, Sept. 15 Kochek president Greg Kozey; Louis Thomas, Kochek’s director of Corporate Sales, Walker, along with Economic and Community Development Director Delpha Very and Town Administrator Douglas M. Cutler, representatives of the Economic Development department participated in a ceremony to demonstrate the ease of installation of Kochek’s Storz Hydrant Converters.
In less than five minutes, each hydrant was converted to the same standard connection used on the fire departments hose ends. This means that connections can be made more quickly when precious seconds count and insure the interoperability of responding mutual aid departments.
Kochek donated these converters to the town as a service to the community. The conversions are now being performed in a joint effort with the Putnam Public Works Department and Director Jerry Beausoleil. Conversions of these hydrants can potentially save lives in critical situations while possibly reducing the towns insurance rating at the next evaluation which could translates into savings for businesses and residents of the Town.
Kochek Co. Inc. design and manufacturers of fire equipment, has been in business since 1988. The company was founded by Kozey, a former fire chief in Eastford. The company moved to the Putnam Industrial Park more than 10 years ago.