Car Shears Hydrant, But No One Injured

The town’s recent rash of traffic accidents continued last Sunday afternoon when a 16-year-old female driving north on Palisades Drive veered off the road, hit a fire hydrant and knocked over a street light. This sent a geyser of water soaring higher than nearby palm trees for several hours. West Traffic detectives blamed the accident on excessive speed and cell-phone use. The driver’s Toyota Corolla suffered major damage, but her airbag deployed. A witness told the Palisadian-Post that although the driver appeared uninjured, “She seemed to be quite shaken up and was crying continuously for about an hour afterward.” Fire Station 23 responded to the call at 5:57 p.m. After determining that the driver had no injuries, firemen surveyed the scene. “A light pole had been knocked down next to the fire hydrant,” Captain Dan Thompson said. “Before we approached the hydrant, we called DWP to verify that the power was shut off.” DWP received the call at 6:07 p.m. and arrived on scene at 6:47 p.m. The crew removed a fuse from the hand hole, a little box on the sidewalk that contains fuses and electrical wires . “The street light was defused for safety purposes,” said DWP public affairs officer Carol Tucker. The geyser of water shooting out of the hydrant reached spectacular heights because the hydrants along Palisades Drive are fed by a high-pressure main. Thompson estimated that 2,000 gallons per minute were going into the air. DWP workers who handle water issues arrived at the scene at about the same time as their power counterparts. When they tried to shut off the water flowing to the hydrant, they discovered it wasn’t a standard valve found on most hydrants. In order to reach the valve (located six feet under the sidewalk), they needed a tool with a special extension, which is not normally carried on emergency calls. A call was made to procure the specific tool, and water was finally shut off at 8:20. Meanwhile, firefighters from Station 23 closed down traffic lanes going north, and at about 6:20 set up a reverse-flow lane in the south side fast lane, so that cars could access the Highlands. They continued to help with traffic until parking enforcement arrived around 7:30 p.m. The northbound road remained closed for several hours and DWP workers remained on site until 9:53 p.m.