A Hydrant Grows in Washington. Water Authority Crew Okays Plug Firefighters Couldn’t Access. No Agreement on Hydrant Inspection Program Funding.
So how would you hook up to the 4-inch steamer connection on this hydrant? D.C. firefighters figured it would be impossible, so on July 25th, as part of a city-wide inspection program, the hydrant at 50 Nicholson Street, Northwest was placed out-of-service.
The D.C. Water and Sewer Authority (WASA) received notice of the situation and did what it promised it would do when alerted to problem hydrants. WASA sent a crew out to take care of the situation in order to have the hydrant back in-service within 10 business days.
According to D.C. Fire and EMS records, a WASA crew visited the hydrant on July 27th, just two days after it was reported out-of-service. The crew determined, since the plug could still flow water, it wasn’t broken. The hydrant was then immediately placed back in-service.
That hydrant, with the base of a tree wrapped around it, was a topic of conversation today between the top brass of D.C. Fire and EMS and WASA. Afterwards, Charles Kiely, a WASA assistant general manager, admitted that a different decision should have been made by the WASA crew handling the Nicholson Street hydrant. Keily told STATter 911 the hydrant will now be replaced.
But the bigger issue from the meeting is the long-term financing of a hydrant inspection program for the District of Columbia. D.C. Fire & EMS Chief Dennis Rubin presented WASA with a memorandum of understanding that would require WASA to fund and equip twice-yearly inspections. D.C. Fire & EMS would provide the staffing for the program.
Sources familiar with the meeting tell STATter 911 that WASA General Manager Jerry Johnson is not in favor of giving money to D.C. Fire & EMS. Johnson would not discuss the issue when asked questions as he left the meeting. Johnson said WASA and D.C. Fire and EMS continue to work well together on the hydrant issue.
WASA is still looking into why a hydrant at 20th and P Streets, NW remains out of service 17 days after the fire department reported it had a broken steamer connection. It was one of the closest hydrant to this morning’s 2-alarm fire at a Subway sandwich shop. Chief Rubin said because of the 4-month long city-wide inspection program that is just ending, crews this morning were already aware the hydrant was broken and easily worked around the problem.
As STATter 911 first reported on Tuesday, the inspection program found more than 75 percent of the hydrants broken in the 3rd Street Tunnel under the National Mall. WASA still insists those hydrants are the responsibility of D.C.’s Department of Transportation (DDOT). A DDOT spokesman said again today that it appears to be a joint responsibility of the two agencies.
WASA’S Kiely said he believed firefighting capabilities at the agency’s Blue Plains Sewage Treatment Plant are more than adequate. Blue Plains is also where WASA’s headquarters building is located. STATter 911 first reported on Wednesday that 29 percent of the hydrants in the complex failed the recent inspection by D.C. firefighters.
(Watch 9News Now 6:00 p.m. report on hydrant issues)
