Fire hydrant work evokes consolidation effort
The Hill’s three water districts — Fern Valley (FVWD), Idyllwild (IWD)
and Pine Cove (PCWD) — and some Idyllwild Fire Department (IFD)
firefighters combined forces last week to perform some fire hydrant
repair. All who participated thought it went well and bodes well for
future cooperation among the four local districts.
Photo by Chief Mark LaMont.
“It was great training and good to get to know everyone,” said Jeremy
Potter, PCWD general manager. “Although we’ve done our own hydrant
maintenance over the years, it was good for some of the guys to learn
hands on.”
Fire hydrant maintenance, repair or replacement was the first among five
major projects presented to IWD’s acting General Manager (GM) Curt
Sauer. And he organized the crew work effort.
IWD field staff needed to carry out some maintenance and repair several
fire hydrants in the district. Being a small district, this type of work
does not occur frequently. Given his extensive experience, Sauer sought
the assistance of Eric Johnson at Mueller Co., the hydrant manufacturer,
who was happy to provide training.
“I wanted to improve their knowledge and experience on fire hydrants,”
Sauer said. He then contacted the GMs at FVWD and PCWD.
As it was planning the project, IWD realized it needed some special
tools it did not have. A call to FVWD GM Vic Jimenez got a commitment to
bring the necessary tools and participate in the project.
Potter also was contacted and happily agreed to participate. Several IFD
firefighters also joined the effort; at least, until an emergency call
arrived, Sauer noted.
The group worked on three hydrants. They repaired the hydrant in front
of the Idyllwild Fire Station and a second on Tahquitz Drive, which
failed about a month ago. The third hydrant on Oakwood Drive was
irreparable, according to Jimenez. But FVWD had a spare hydrant to
replace it.
“I was glad we were invited as well as Fern Valley. We will continue to
cross train with the other two districts as well as help out any way we
can,” Potter said several days after the exercise.
“It was the most positive step since I’ve been here,” Jimenez, who
became FVWD GM in 2016, added. “We stopped the leaks. It was very
impressive.”
Sauer added, “We’re going to do it again. Fern Valley already agreed.
Working in tandem and gained additional training. I really appreciated
everyone’s involvement.”
“I have never seen all four districts working together in such harmony,”
said IFD Chief Mark Lamont. “It’s wonderful. I am so encouraged by
everyone’s willingness to work together. The community of Idyllwild is
better served when we are all working together.”
