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After one day on the job, crews have managed to repair or replace about a dozen fire hydrants along North Washington Avenue in the city's Green Ridge section.
That number is a little short of a promised 16-hydrant-per-day goal, but workers found several hydrants that took them longer to repair than expected, said Deputy Fire Chief Terry Osborne, the man overseeing the hydrant project.
Crews from Linde Enterprises and Pennsylvania American Water Co. began repairing and replacing about 150 defunct hydrants Thursday, Mr. Osborne said.
When I left, around four oclock (Thursday afternoon), the crews told me they had 11 finished and had two that needed some major repairs, he said.
Workers started in the North Washington Avenue area in Green Ridge because that area includes a stretch of bad hydrants, Mr. Osborne said. The North Washington hydrants had not been previously replaced because a new main was scheduled to go in there. But the decision has been made not to wait, he said.
Another section of the city, West Park Avenue in West Scranton, had a similar number of bad hydrants, but PAWC workers began work there last week and that section is now operational, Mr. Osborne said.
The water company normally does all hydrant replacements, but the city decided to hire a contractor for the current situation because the utility could not do the work fast enough.
One delay came from the Pennsylvania One-Step Program, a system of notifying all utility companies serving the city.
One-Step has a three-day notification process, but because of the emergency situation in Green Ridge, we got permission to start there, Deputy Chief Osborne said.
Utility workers should have their job done by Monday, and Deputy Chief Osborne said he expects to have enough crews to begin city-wide work Monday.
Because the bid came in so far under budget, city officials have decided to check all hydrants and remove older hydrants not now on the list to get ahead, Deputy Chief Osborne said.
PAWC crews have also been working along with the Linde crews to furnish expertise and hydrant parts when needed.
Barring any problems, the job should be completed in about two weeks, Deputy Chief Osborne said.
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