Fish Clog Dry Hydrant

Firefighters in Nova Scotia investigate how dozens of fish got through a hydrant’s strainers.
Fish Clog Dry Hydrant
Photo by Shawn Carey, Aylesford and District Volunteer Fire Department

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Firefighters battling a blaze in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley were in for quite a surprise this past month when they found dozens of fish clogging one of their hydrants.

According to a report by CBC News, when fire crews tried to fill a pumper truck near the grass fire, nothing came through the dry hydrant.

“We had a hard time getting any suction from the dry hydrant,” says Fire Chief Shawn Carey, of the Aylesford and District Volunteer Fire Department. “We took it apart because we thought we might have had a gasket gone in one of our lines.

“When we took it apart, we found a bunch of fish that came up through the strainer, and how they got in there is beyond me,” Carey says. “It actually clogged off our pipe so we couldn’t get any water.”

Carey says he and his team have never seen anything like it.

“It was first for all of us,” he says. “I know some fire departments in the area have had problems with salamanders in the dry hydrants, but never fish.”

Some of the fish survived and were put back in the water, according to the report.

“We were definitely wowed by what happened,” Carey says. “The next fine day we’re going to go up there and take a look to see if we can prevent it from happening again. There’s a strainer on the top and on the bottom, so we need to take a look and see how they got in there.”

Source: CBC News



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