Boston hydrants flood streets & homes

[EoneTiller]

Boston fire hydrants flood streets & homes




Fire Hydrants Flood Streets, Homes
Officials Warn Against Opening Hydrants In Heat

POSTED: 5:46 p.m. EDT June 26, 2003
UPDATED: 8:18 a.m. EDT June 27, 2003


Story by Boston Channel

BOSTON -- An attempt to get some relief from the summer heat turned into a massive water main break in Dorchester.

Some children were cooling off in the water from an open fire hydrant on Johnston Street when the main burst Thursday afternoon. The water not only flooded the street, but also soaked basements in the area.

The break was so strong, the water weakened the roads, sending a Boston firetruck into a small sinkhole. City water officials said shutting off the hydrant may be to blame.

Fire officials warn against playing with fire hydrants because it takes pressure away from the system in the event of a fire.

[Adze39]

There are some hydrants on the other side of my town that have special "locks" on the stem to prevent farmers from stealing the water to irrigate their crops. The FD over there has to have a special hydrant wrench to open them. Maybe sometime early next week I will go looking for one and take a picture.

Also from the "they're screwed-up over there" category:

The other side of town also has numerous hydrants where you have to turn the hydrant wrench the opposite way (ie righty is NOT tighty but loosy). Luckily they've identified all of them (or so they hope) and painted the stems red (red for right).

[FFMcDonald]

Adze - are they anything like these:

[FFMcDonald]

more info can be found at: http://www.hydra-shield.com/
If anyone were interested.

[DeputyChiefGonzo]

Originally posted by Adze39


Also from the "they're screwed-up over there" category:

The other side of town also has numerous hydrants where you have to turn the hydrant wrench the opposite way (ie righty is NOT tighty but loosy). Luckily they've identified all of them (or so they hope) and painted the stems red (red for right).

We call those "nepo" hydrants. Some of the older hydrants in the city are "nepos"!

[RyanEMVFD]

we have a few hydrants that are backwards from the rest. the water dept is supposed to be painting them.