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Shortly after the fires at Eastern Market and the Georgetown library I wrote about how the problem with the District’s Fire Hydrants, namely that they don’t work, has been at the center of a conflict between WASA and the Fire Department. At the time the council held a hearing, berated both agencies and called for some sort of action. But in the subsequent five months not much has happened besides totally moronic child-like bickering. From yesterday’s Express:

» D.C. Fire Chief Dennis L. Rubin sent firefighters into Adams Morgan in the early morning hours last week. They hooked up hoses, barked commands and fought … nothing. It was all an exercise to prove that water pressure in fire hydrants controlled by WASA was indeed to blame for the problems fire officials had in fighting the condo fire earlier this month.

» WASA General Manager Jerry N. Johnson, speaking about Rubin during an interview last week: “The relationship at the top levels [of the two departments] soured shortly after his arrival.”

» Rubin speaking about Johnson at a D.C. Council hearing after the condo fire: “The rank-and-file folks at WASA are tremendous. The executive of WASA has not been as cooperative.”

Oh, the other thing that happened since then was a massive apartment fire in which hoses had to be run from Adams Morgan across the Duke Ellington bridge to Connecticut Avenue. This took a buttload of time and left about 30 families homeless.

So on Tuesday the council stepped in again and passed emergency legislation demanding that WASA and the FD figure something out and fix the damn hydrants. They were given 30 days to do this but according to the Mayor’s schedule a compromise has already been reached and will be announced today.

I don’t really care who ends up bearing the brunt of the work. My personal opinion is that the Fire Department should be fighting the fires and the agency responsible for controlling the city’s water supply should be able to actually get water to the places it’s supposed to go. But as long as this gets fixed and I can stop worrying about how likely it is I’d be able to kick out iron grating and climb out a window I’ll be happy.

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