More hydrant problems in DC. For 8 years plugs dead that protect Potomac crossings including Metro, CSX and I-395 bridges.
Two of the hydrants are underneath the 14th Street Bridge complex. The series of bridges carries Interstate 395 traffic, CSX, AMTRAK and Virginia Railway Express trains and Metro’s Yellow Line. One of the broken hydrants is adjacent to the dry standpipe system for the Metro bridge and the tunnel leading to the L’Enfant Plaza station.
Unlike some of the recent problems with city hydrants, these fire plugs don’t belong to the DC Water and Sewer Authority (WASA). The National Park Service is responsible for the hydrants, which are also near the FDR Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial.
DC Fire and EMS Lt. Sean Egan tells STATter 911 that he first discovered the broken hydrants during the spring and summer citywide hydrant inspection program that he helped supervise. Lt. Egan says National Park Service officials told him the hydrants haven’t worked since 1999.
Because of Monday’s Columbus Day holiday, no one from the National Park Service could provide information about the hydrants. There is indication that the two hydrants under the Metro bridge and adjacent to the I-395 bridges are in the process of being repaired.
Lt. Egan believes that may solve only part of the problem. Egan says the hydrants in these parks are connected to smaller, substandard water mains. According to Egan, similar, smaller mains failed to provide enough water to effectively attack last week’s large apartment fire in Adams Morgan.
DC Fire & EMS, along with neighboring Virginia departments, have a joint exercise scheduled for next weekend focusing on the Metro bridge. Egan says he is hoping the repairs will be completed to allow firefighters involved in the drill to easily connect and pump the Yellow Line standpipe system.
