If you are a loyal reader, then you surely know that I am always printing retractions or apologies. Today is no exception. What I thought was a bit of light-hearted humor has once again been misinterpreted causing a deluge of fan mail to rain down upon me. Things get forwarded by one person to another, pretty soon law enforcement is involved, and then I’m doing 200 hours of community service cleaing up the median on the highway. Well not this time buddy.

I recently made reference to the fire hydrants near my house. In jest, I implied that I had tried to test them and ultimately ended up breaking them. Nothing could be further from the truth. I do not know the legality of tampering with fire hydrants, but I am proud to say that I am no lawbreaker. I do not know if said hydrants work (I assume they do), but if they do not, it’s not my fault.

The City of Ypsilanti and YCUA have a very specific policy of testing fire hydrants in the City. It is done every fall before winterizing, and every hydrant in the City is opened and tested. YCUA did not tell me what they do to broken hydrants, but I can only assume they are clearly marked.

In light of the tragedy that happened at the Eastern Village Apartments in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, the City of Ypsilanti committed no errors. Word on the street is that the City Manager has requested a report from both YCUA and the Fire Department about hydrant inspection. With any luck, those two organizations will report exactly what I’ve stated and my credibility in regards to fact checking and research will be restored.

For your enjoyment, I offer the following procedures from communties near Ypsilanti. You will see their procedures are very similar to those of Ypsilanti.

The Village of Dexter
Fire hydrants are flushed and tested twice a year.
Non-working hydrants are painted white.
Every fire vehicle in the Village carries in it a log of working and non-working hydrants.
This practice has been going on for five years.

The City of Saline
Fire hydrants are flushed every six weeks (every two weeks in areas where there are water quality issues).
Not every hydrant is flushed every six weeks.
All hydrants are opened and tested once a year.

The City of Ann Arbor
Fire hydrants are flushed and tested once a year.
Testing occurred this past week.