Community member Bruce Koball shared this video and photograph of a geyser created Friday morning when a driver in a U-Haul truck “sheared off a fire hydrant” in West Berkeley.
The crash took place at Sixth Street and Hearst Avenue, resulting in a 40-foot geyser shortly before 8:30 a.m., Koball told Berkeleyside. He said Berkeley firefighters arrived shortly after he did, and he got video of “the fire johnnies turning off the hydrant valve in the street, with the geyser gradually getting lower.”
Koball continued: “Interestingly, neither the hydrant (which wound up under the truck) nor the flange were damaged; the bolts had sheared cleanly (designed to do that said BFD) and it was reattached immediately.”
Berkeleyside has asked the Berkeley Fire Department for a report and will update this post if further information is provided.
Update, 1:45 p.m. Assistant Fire Chief Keith May said “a gentleman driving a U-Haul truck struck a hydrant while turning the corner at Sixth St. and Hearst Ave. EBMUD will be repairing the broken hydrant.”
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