LOCAL NEWS
2 homes flooded after fire hydrant break
Mar 9, 2018, 1:52 PM | Updated: 10:33 pm
WEST VALLEY CITY – Cleanup is underway after an issue with a fire hydrant near Redwood Center Park.
Police officers and water and power crews rushed to the area around 9 p.m. Thursday.
“It was a fitting where it connected down into the distribution main that went to the fire hydrant,” said Water Systems Division Manager Shawn Ellis with Granger-Hunter Improvement District.
The fire hydrant has since been fixed and reinstalled on Lester Street.
Ellis said he and other water district officials are looking into what could have caused the break, which he said could be blamed on a variety of things.
“A car might have hit it and left the scene. It could have been just deterioration,” said Ellis.
Pumps worked all night and into the afternoon Friday to clean up the mess.
Two homeowners are now dealing with water damage. Chris Gomez, who lives on Sunset Avenue, got the worst of it.
“It’s pretty rough. Walked out and you can just see the three inch to six inch layer everyplace, so we just started immediately going into triage mode taking care of things,” he said.
Gomez said neighbors alerted him of the flooding.
“The stuff inside the garage was affected and underneath my house. I have a three foot crawl space underneath my house that was completely filled,” said Gomez.
Despite the headache and damage, Gomez said he’s grateful for the help.
“The response of everyone involved was great. It made it very comforting,” he said.
The water district said their insurance agents will be assessing the damage on Friday.
“We’re going to go move on and get all the remediation and cleanup done and hopefully not see you guys again for a while,” Ellis joked with news reporters.
