Girard Mayor Mark Zuppo said that on his first day, he received several calls about safety issues with inoperable fire hydrants in the city.

Zuppo tells 21 News it's a problem his administration inherited but they're working on a solution. The problem is that some of the water lines are more than a hundred years old and as a result, some of the fire hydrants don't work properly. Zuppo says the solution is replacing those water lines.

Zuppo says it's no easy feat, though. That kind of project takes time and money and Zuppo is looking at a 20 to 25 year infrastructure replacement plan.

Zuppo says the first step is solidifying an engineer firm to work with the city.

"We're in the process of scoring applicants," said Zuppo. "Once we've scored all engineering firms then we can figure out which will be the best to help us come up with a plan and then we can go after grants but we can't do that without a plan first," he said. 

Hydrants cost $7,000 each to replace and Zuppo says they replaced one just last week. He says water pressure needs to be addressed and they also just signed a $3,000 per month, one year contract with a grant writing firm who can help them obtain some funds.

Last month a house on Tibbetts Wick Road in Liberty caught fire, permanently displacing a family of six.

Fire Crews had to roll out 1,500 feet of hose to get to a working fire hydrant, after attempts to open the two nearest fire plugs failed.