DOWNIEVILLE — Members of the Downieville Volunteer Fire Department (DVFD) and Paul Douville of the Downieville Public Utility District met on Monday to service a fire hydrant on Church Street, which had been leaking for some time. The DVFD used the servicing as a training session for its members, re-familiarizing them with the structure of a hydrant and the steps required to open and maintain one.

A fire hydrant is much larger than what may appear on the surface — the valve that opens the connection to the water main is roughly 4 to 6 feet below the street’s surface. Stretching from the top, where the nut is turned to open the valve, to the bottom at the water main is a long metal rod connecting to the valve. Part of the valve is a large rubber puck-like gasket, which was the object of the fire department to replace.

The Church Street hydrant took incredible effort by all present to open. Several metal rods were bent while twisting off a massive nut near the water main. Most hydrants in Downieville have not been opened for servicing since their installation around 50 years ago. Though the hydrant is connected to drinking water, which is not particularly alkaline or acidic, there was noticeable corrosion throughout the workings, which led to the degradation of the gasket and brass surfaces of the valve.

The repair of the Church Street hydrant foreshadows the need for future repairs of Downieville’s aging hydrants. Still, it gives the Fire Department valuable information on how those repairs will be made. For now, Downieville has regained the use of one of the town’s most valuable firefighting tools.