A 15-year-old boy struck a fire hydrant with a car that caused gushing water to flood six units at the Appian Way Apartments on the West Hill in Kent.
Firefighters were dispatched at about 6:52 p.m. Jan. 3 to the complex in the 25800 block of 26th Place South, according to Puget Sound Fire spokesperson Pat Pawlak. Firefighters arrived in less than six minutes. The apartments are west of Interstate 5 and east of Pacific Highway South.
“Firefighters were able to slow the flow of water by shutting down some valves,” Pawlak said. “Once the water level went down, workers from Highline Water District were able to close the valve to the hydrant. They also capped the line leading to this hydrant to ensure no additional leaking would occur.”
Kent Police located the vehicle and the 15-year-old driver.
“Initial information is that the juvenile was attempting to move and repark the vehicle in the parking lot of the complex, when he struck the fire hydrant,” said Kent Police Assistant Chief Jarod Kasner in a Jan. 6 email.
Kasner declined to say whether the boy lived at the complex because he is juvenile. He said the boy was not cited or arrested, partly because of his age and that the incident wasn’t on a public street.
“The juvenile is too young to be cited in this incident,” Kasner said. “The collision also occurred in the parking lot of the apartment complex.”
Jeremy DelMar, general manager of the Highline Water District, which serves Kent residents on the West Hill, said he didn’t know how many gallons of water shot out of the hydrant. He estimated the hydrant released close to 2,500 gallons per minute.
Pawlak, of Puget Sound Fire, said it’s rare that hydrants get hit and release so much water.
“This was a very unusual incident,” Pawlak said. “Fire hydrants are equipped with a break-away flange so when struck, the pipe does not break, causing water to flow, as it did in this instance.”
DelMar said the flange or collar is near the bottom of the hydrant “but are not foolproof.” He said the angle the car hit the hydrant and the location could have caused the collar device to not stop the water flow.
Highline Water District owns the fire hydrants in its coverage area. It will cost about $5,000 to replace the hydrant, DelMar said.
Appian Way Apartments are operated by Seattle-based Mercy Housing Northwest, a regional branch of Denver, Colorado-based Mercy Housing Inc., a leading national affordable housing nonprofit, and has provided affordable homes to people with low incomes since 1981. It owns 54 properties in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, and serves more than 6,000 people.
As of Jan. 7, a Mercy Housing Northwest spokesperson had not yet responded to an email about how the flooding impacted residents and what the next steps might be.
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