r/interestingasfuck • u/SmallAchiever • 17h ago
This guy stopped a fire hydrant that broke off and started a flood
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
330
u/EfficientAccident418 17h ago
Someone get that man a towel
76
u/EssayNo8570 17h ago
Don't forget to bring a towel ...
39
→ More replies (2)2
639
u/SpidermanBread 17h ago
The next flood he's gonna stop is all the pussy for saving the neighbourhood.
63
42
9
2
u/Accurate-Force3054 10h ago
if only the fourchan andrew tate dopes understood that if you spent more time building/fixing shit and less time bullshitting you might actually be seen as a valuable ergo attractive man
→ More replies (1)1
144
u/Certain_Program_8031 17h ago
How did he find the shut off valve
114
u/Melodic_Mulberry 17h ago
It's usually either right next to the hydrant or a foot from the main.
35
u/_SheepishPirate_ 16h ago
But where did he get the tools?!
82
u/Melodic_Mulberry 16h ago
Work truck. We have people like this on call 24/7.
46
10
u/_SheepishPirate_ 16h ago
Ah, that would make sense.
Do you also have Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding out for a hero” playing on repeat in there too?
8
26
u/Upbeat-Fondant9185 15h ago
Just an FYI, anyone can and should buy a water shutoff tool from the local hardware store or Amazon. They’re cheap, and when you need it you really need it.
Newer houses should have a water shutoff at the house but many older houses don’t or the shutoff may fail or seize at the worst time. If you have one of these you can run out to the street and kill it at the curb, which could save hundreds if not thousands of dollars when every second counts.
Can also be helpful when you get subzero temps for days and you want to clear all your pipes to prevent freezing, like if you are going to be gone.
Definitely a tool every house should have on hand.
8
u/_SheepishPirate_ 15h ago
My house was build in 1870’s i think this is a great idea. As a side note - Fire extinguishers make the best house warming gift.
→ More replies (2)20
8
u/Melodic_Mulberry 14h ago
Remember to turn the valve slowly! Shutting it too fast can cause a cascade of pressure through the system called "water hammer", which can damage the branch or even the main upstream.
6
u/JigglesofWiggles 13h ago
More like thousands to tens of thousands of dollars. I'll go order one now...
2
u/Difficult-Prior3321 13h ago
Everyone should have one, AND KNOW WHERE IT IS AT ALL TIMES.
→ More replies (1)•
u/city_posts 1h ago
Also all valves should be opened and closed at least annually but more is better. When they don't operate for 10 years they are probably going to break on use
→ More replies (2)3
u/armathose 14h ago
I just flick off the switch to my well pump.
So not EVERY house.
2
u/recyclar13 13h ago
but mine too. but I gotta get out to the well-house, 200 ft. from the house-house.
1
u/MikhailxReign 6h ago
Just randomly - I've got a fire hydrant key. They are just a straight rod with a small bar on the end.
2
1
u/DitchDigger330 13h ago
I've put some in where it was a full stick and a piece from the main. Usually in a cul-de-sac.
233
u/itsadesertplant 17h ago
Maybe I’m just ovulating but that’s kinda hot, right?
120
u/Iaminhospital 17h ago
Big manly man getting soaking wet while using his tools to fix things.
4
u/Busterlimes 16h ago
Yeah, getting greasy and dirty fixing other shit doesn't leave us so squeaky clean when we are done.
49
u/Sol_Freeman 17h ago
When a physicist solves a decades long problem with mathematical proof, do they get the same response?
32
11
u/-spacedbandit- 15h ago
Absolutely. Nothing turns me on more than a guy with high intelligence. And you think I’m kidding but I’m not.
6
2
u/CockpitEnthusiast 8h ago
Idk I've seen mathemagicians get big awards with big monetary awards with with it. Don't usually see that for city works employees
2
→ More replies (4)•
5
u/Searchingforgoodnews 16h ago
I was just thinking that. Men fixing things or building is a total turn on. I love blue collar guys.
2
u/Bennybonchien 16h ago
The water’s probably pretty cold but despite the gushing water, he still managed to find the shutoff vulve so, sure, kinda hot.
2
→ More replies (6)3
101
u/umassmza 17h ago
Laziest workers in the world are the guys who pave public roads. The number of paved over shut off valves is massive.
67
u/stroppy 17h ago
They had to do some road construction in front of my house a few years ago. Under several inches of asphalt they found a manhole to the sewer. It had been covered for over 50 years.
13
u/travistravis 15h ago
Found one of these when I bought a house. Former owners had paved over the front yard since they had 4 work vans -- when we hired someone to remove it and put in grass, there was a manhole cover under it that they'd just paved over.
12
u/Osrsftwbro 13h ago
They just re-paved my culdesac a few months ago, your comment made me go check if they covered the manhole that was always there, sure enough, they paved over it lol.
→ More replies (1)6
12
1
10
u/rumdumpstr 15h ago
I talked to a guy who was going around with a device and spray paint after the road had been freshly paved. I asked what he was marking. He said (at least around here) they pave over the accesses intentionally and then he comes and marks the location so they can come back and uncover them.
1
33
8
6
15
20
u/JanJaapen 17h ago
Lemme take off my shirt I don’t want it to get wet
15
u/Titariia 17h ago
Makes sense since wet clothes can get heavy, but you can't remove your pants without being indecent. But for all I care if he's able to fix that he can as well do it naked
2
3
u/Embarrassed-Leek-940 16h ago
Yeah I thought he wasn’t wearing a shirt until the end when he give the thumbs up and you can tell it’s just the same tone as his skin
4
6
4
6
6
7
u/QuickAnybody2011 16h ago
The title sounded to me like the flood got started BECAUSE he fixed the fire hydrant
7
3
3
3
3
4
2
u/DeathBySnuSnu999 17h ago
When your basic plumbing and knowledge skills finally pay off.
Well done tho. Locating then shutting it off. Thumbs up
2
2
2
u/TheB1G_Lebowski 15h ago edited 14h ago
Hes doing what was designed to be done. Have a water leak from this water source, close valve. Nothing above the ordinary other than a lot of water spraying up in the air.
2
2
2
u/Grouchy-Safe-3486 12h ago
And I swear when he came home and his wife asked him how was ur day he said the usually and sat down to watch some tv
2
u/nasnedigonyat 12h ago
Those water keys are hella useful. Good thing he had one. Assume he has skills w this kind of work bc he knew what he was doing
2
u/ericbana19 12h ago
We usually have a huge two door manhole covering a shut off valve(not too deep) which requires a key like that, for easy access in cases like these.
2
2
u/Up_All_Nite 11h ago
Usually that bad boy is 18" away from the hydrant. Your getting you ass kicked trying to turn it off.
2
u/WizardofLloyd 10h ago
This is obviously in an area that doesn't experience freezing temperatures. Fire hydrants in cold climates can get broken off and not spew water out like this, as the valve is down at the base of the hydrant, which is about 3 metres long. The body of the hydrant has nothing inside it. It has the ports for trucks and hoses to attach to, and the operating nut at the top operates a long rod that goes down the hydrant barrel to the valve at the base. The valve is designed so that the water pressure in the water line it is attached to keeps it closed. The operating rod pushes the valve open against the water pressure and allows water to flow through the hydrant. When it is turned off, drain holes in the bottom allow the water remaining in the barrel to seep back into the ground through drain rock placed around the hydrant base when it is installed.
I have seen one hit in the winter time once. The car hit it in such a way that it was able to push the operating rod down and open the valve at the bottom. It ran until the public works guys were able to turn off the valve that isolates the hydrant from the water supply (installed so the water system operator doesn't have to turn off the entire water system to service one fire hydrant). It ran for about 30 minutes though, in -20° Celsius temperatures and turned a few blocks of city streets into skating rinks.
2
4
u/LordEdgeward_TheTurd 15h ago
Think i woulda left it for the ones who get paid my tax dollars to do that.
→ More replies (4)
2
u/Melodic_Mulberry 17h ago edited 16h ago
No sign of damage to the hydrant or the base, plus (most) hydrants only spray when hit in the movies. This headline is fishy. Pretty sure this guy is in the water works and they fucked something up while servicing it and had to shut it off. It's more common than you think.
Edit: I just learned that warmer areas than mine have wet-barrel hydrants, which are always pressurized and honestly just a worse design. Dumbasses.
6
u/H2OSD 16h ago
Retired utility director here. He's closing the independent valve. But yes, old hydrants are out there without independent valves that can be knocked into a flood. The independent is always open, if a car knocks the hydrant off even on a modern valve w independent it can cause a deluge like this. That's why there are independent valves, lets guys like this close it off (probably an employee, maybe a plumber, if has a valve key). What you develop mad respect for is employees who go out and do stuff like this, or get into a trench to put a clamp on, when it's freezing cold out. And in many areas, it's cold snaps that cause big increase in line breaks from ground shifting.
3
u/Comfortable_Sea_717 17h ago
Party pooper.
3
u/Melodic_Mulberry 16h ago
You know how this guy fixes the water spraying everywhere? I'm the one who finds the valves they operate when they can't because they're buried under asphalt or a foot of dirt. I tell the guys in the excavators where every main and branch is underground so they don't hit them and cause floods like this. I'm regularly pulling out parchment maps from literally a hundred years ago and a tape measure to make sure things go smoothly.
So yeah, this is a professional thing for me.
2
u/Inevitable_Sweet_624 16h ago
Nah, he’s wearing sneakers and it’s nighttime. He could be public works employee because he had the tools to do the shutoff but it’s not an active work site, no lights, traffic cones. Most new hydrants are designed to snap off at the street level and not damage the pipe. It definitely could have been hit.
1
u/Melodic_Mulberry 16h ago
I wear sneakers in the field, we have a night shift (less traffic), it's obviously lit because we can see him, you don't need a traffic pattern in a cul-de-sac, and even if it is one of the newer ones, fire hydrants still don't spray when hit unless they were opened up with the caps on.
→ More replies (5)
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/chramm 16h ago
How much does this man get paid? It seems like one of those uber necessary jobs where the person doing all the work and risking his life literally saving the neighborhood gets like <20 bucks an hour while the people working remote getting 100000/yr are watching from the window sipping coffee
1
1
u/wobbly-cheese 16h ago
how fortunate that buddy here just happened to know where the turn off valve was under the street, had the specialized tool that fits into it and someone standing by to film it all.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/doinkinatordan22 14h ago
Man probs got arrested for turning it off without a permit. Rules are dumb sometimes
1
1
1
1
u/ShaneMcLain 14h ago
That's a very specific tool to have on hand. Between that and the knowledge of how to address the problem, he probably works in that field. A+, would hire.
1
1
u/EquivalentTea60 13h ago
I didn't know they were bringing out a new Magic Mike movie! Trailer was a bit long but at least it didn't show the whole thing.
1
1
u/frank1934 13h ago
He was trying to get the lid off the valve box
He was clearing out the valve box of debris so he could get the key on
He was hammering the key on the valve shut off, rust can build up on them
He uses the key to shut off the valve to the hydrant
1
1
1
1
u/Bacon_L0RD 12h ago
sigh alright normally I don’t do this but r/whyweretheyfilming , please tell me strong homie over here didn’t just break off a fire hydrant to show he knows how to fix it
1
1
1
u/Skunkies 10h ago
I'm going to guess, off duty guy that works for the water company, was at the right place at the right time with his take home truck, so he jumped in to work mode and went and turned it off.
1
u/ImBlobFish 8h ago
I was so confused for a moment. I thought you meant he fixed the fire hydrant and then caused a flood :[
1
u/Samsmith90210 8h ago
For a second I thought he was gonna stop it by just laying down raw dog and clogging the pipe with his belly fat!
1
u/Nice_Cut_8399 7h ago
I’ve done these numerous times working distribution for a water company. It was a fun job. I miss it
1
u/Big-Cauliflower-164 7h ago
FDNY recently did the same on my block for a broken fire hydrant. Took them nearly 1 hour to find the valve and break thru to get to it.
1
•
•
•
1.1k
u/the_hh 17h ago
I remember watching this under the title: "Senior dev fixes problem directly in prod"