Vehicle takes out hydrant
Replacement imminent after fire hydrant broken off
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Thursday, January 19, 2017
LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
Two bright orange pylons mark off an area of sidewalk on 100 Street in Fort Simpson where a fire hydrant used to stand.
The sidewalk by the Northern store's gas bar in Fort Simpson shows the evidence of where a fire hydrant used to stand. - April Hudson/NNSL photo
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The hydrant, which was hit by a vehicle earlier this month, broke off from the impact.
Mitch Gast, the former acting senior administrative officer for the Village of Fort Simpson, said village workers would be replacing the hydrant soon.
"As soon as it warms up, (we) will dig down about two feet and replace the top of that hydrant," he said.
The replacement is a fairly standard procedure. Gast said the village keeps about half a dozen hydrant tops in stock in case something happens.
The latest hydrant mishap occurred when someone turned a corner too sharply, he added, hitting it with the front bumper and dragging it down the road.
"This doesn't happen on a regular basis in town but you usually get one or two a year," he said.
"I just wish someone would stop when they hit one."
However, he pointed put the hydrant had performed its intended function by snapping off where it was supposed to without damaging anything else on the ground.
"Hydrants are made to break off like that, because they're on the side of the road all the time. They're designed to snap off and not spew water all over the place," he said.
"Everything down below, (such as) the valve, is still good . Our plant operator just put some cones on there because we've still got sharp metal sticking out where the hydrant used to be."
Gast said hydrant replacement is "the cost of doing business," since they are always by the side of the road. If the village can discover who hit the hydrant, they could go after that person for costs, although Gast said that was "highly unlikely" at this stage.
"It's a minor cost, so we'll pay for stuff like that," he said, adding they wouldn't be going through insurance for it.
"It's not worth making a claim."
