Photo by West Philly Local reader Jazmin Idakaar.
It’s scorching in Philadelphia and many residents are looking for ways to cool off. Unfortunately, some ways of cooling off can be costly. An illegally opened fire hydrant caused a water outage on Tuesday, July 16 near 52nd and Locust Streets. The break disrupted water service for some fifty properties in the area for 11 hours (11:30 a.m. – 10:30 p.m.). and then took hours of clean-up. West Philly Local readers reported lots of water coming out of spots along the street at 52nd & Locust after the break.
“When you open a hydrant illegally, you run the risk of bodily harm, possibly death, property damage and situations like this, where you have a water main break and people on the block with no water,” John DiGiulio of the Philadelphia Water Department told ABC.
July 17th, 2013 at 10:37 am
Dumb question, but if you really need to cool down couldn’t you just get in a shower or stand outside and spray a hose at yourself? Why risk flooding a block or taking away water usage during a heatwave. God forbid they needed that water for drinking or cleaning or worst yet, putting out a fire.
July 17th, 2013 at 10:45 am
You might not be able to afford taking a shower every time you’re hot, or you might not have access to a shower/running water whenever you want, or … you might be a child who is having fun and doesn’t necessarily understand the possible ramifications.
July 17th, 2013 at 11:08 am
Is the spray ground on 47th and Paschall free? That would be a good alternative for most kids in the area.
July 17th, 2013 at 1:42 pm
oh wait didnt the city shut down half the public pools last summer?
July 17th, 2013 at 4:38 pm
how does opening a hydrant cause a “water main break”? I can see low pressure and other results, but not an actual break. Update please
July 17th, 2013 at 5:20 pm
This wasn’t opened up for cooling off — there had been a hose running from the hydrant down 52nd towards a construction site at 52nd and Irving for a day or two before the break.
July 18th, 2013 at 2:57 pm
Are you referring to the city demolition of the old BBQ place at 52nd and Irving?
July 18th, 2013 at 2:17 pm
@whistleblower–did you by any chance report that? If it’s an issue of negligence by a construction crew, that’s even more of an issue, I would think.
July 18th, 2013 at 3:12 pm
Yeah, what I called ‘construction’ was pretty much demolition, but I don’t actually know who hooked up the hose and where it was going — just that it was running south down 52nd. I assumed it was being used at that site for whatever reason. In any case, it was not residents cooling off so save your pejorative characterizations, brendangrad.