Gushing guysers flow from fire hydrants as city workers take care of annual spring project
(Talk of the Town photos by Jennifer Zartman Romano) Across Columbia City, guysers are shooting upward across roadways, creating puddles and soaking passing motorists. As part of an annual project, city street department workers are busy flushing the fire hydrants. Impressively, despite water seemingly flying everywhere -- seasoned street department workers like Jim Lock, above, are able to avoid become completely soaked. "You just stay out of the wind," Lock said as he finished flushing a hydrant at the Whitley County 4-H Fairgrounds. Lock said some 400-450 hydrants will be flushed this week as part of the annual spring project. It takes 4-5 days to flush the city's hydrants. As crews work on the western edge of the city today, they'll finish by flushing the hydrants in the downtown area early tomorrow morning before traffic and parked cars would be showered. Lock said the hydrants are flushed each year to removed built up sediment in the water line and to ensure that the hydrants are working correctly in case they might be needed by the fire department. Below, a driver chooses to avoid an impromptu car wash along Business 30 West this morning.
