A fire hydrant near Evergreen and Menahan shoots up into the air like a geyser. — Photos by Diego Cupolo
If there’s a single image that captures summertime in New York City it has to be children playing with gushing fire hydrants in the streets. The laughing, the shouting, the squirt guns and the drivers that pass by slowly, taking advantage of a free car wash — our culture drips with these scenes as fire hydrants provide the only way to cool off for many of the city’s residents.
Only thing is it hasn’t been so hot this year.
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After two months of rain and mysteriously mild weather, the temperature finally rose above 90 degrees yesterday afternoon for the first time this summer. Remarkably, the city has not gone through June and July without reaching 90 degrees for almost a century.
As a result, countless fire hydrants were tapped throughout Bushwick and children could be heard playing on almost every other block. I took a bike ride around the neighborhood to take pictures and came across some marvelous sights around Maria Hernandez Park. There wasn’t a single unopened fire hydrant in a three block radius and Starr Street was halfway to becoming the new East River.
Though fun to watch, the scenario is a nightmare for conservationists so the city is trying to reduce these instances through a program that educates residents about the waste and hazards of open hydrants. Apparently, the water that gushes out of a hydrant in one minute is equivalent to 400 showers running at the same time.
Alas, only the jingle of a passing ice cream truck has been proven effective in drawing kids away from those surging, refreshing, endlessly streaming waters.
Professional Alternative August 11th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Cute, but this is a mess and dangerous to ride a bike in, and a huge waste of water. It’s not 400-showers-per-minute hot.
sam August 11th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
The serious amount of water at the corner of knickerbocker and troutman is OUT OF CONTROL
Matt August 12th, 2009 at 8:44 am
the people who use the hydrant in the middle of starr between knick and irving are fucking assholes. selfish fucking twats can suck it. And the city can suck it too. how many times do i have to cal and tell them that a hydrant is on at full goddamned bore, gushing 10s of thousands of gallons of water into the street? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for hydrants being opened as long as they are not wide open. But these assholes who think they own their own water park just crank it wide open with no care in the world. pricks.
Matt August 12th, 2009 at 8:51 am
ok sorry, I haven’t had my coffee yet. Didn’t need to swear so much :p
Nast August 12th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
“An open fire hydrant without a sprinkler
cap wastes 1000 gallons of water per
minute–as much in an hour as an entire
family of four uses in a year!
Open fire hydrants will also hamper firefighting
capabilities, putting your neighborhood
at risk.
If you must use the hydrant to stay
cool, visit your local firehouse and
they will install a SPRINKLER CAP”
http://www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/html/safety/firesafety.shtml
savagesevere August 12th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
cool article and great spark for debate – how to stay cool and keep your cool when you’re trapped in the city when it’s very hot.
Joseph August 12th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
I have just given up on calling 311 for open hydrants. Sometimes the fire dept will come by and close the hydrant but it will be reopened an hour later. Nobody in the area seems to care and I guess that open hydrants in the summer is just the norm around here. I am all for cooling off but it just makes me sick to think of all that precious water going right down the drain.
sweetser August 12th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
I understand frustration with people leaving the hydrants fully open in our neighborhood, but lets keep in mind that many of the families here dont have backyards or much living space in general. The streets basically become the playgrounds during the warm weather. Nice piece Diego, and brilliant shots of the summer scene.
Kojo August 12th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Yeah, Sweetster. I was thinking the same thing.
Growing up, I was spoiled with a large backyard, playground around the corner, 2 swimming pools in my neighborhood, and frequent trips to water/amusement parks.
I think that the photos were great. It brought me back to my own childhood. It’s true that the streets become a child’s playground. I will admit that when I came to visit my cousins in NY in the ’80s – we did the same thing as far as the open fire hydrants.
I know that people are frustrated, but you still need to give Diego props for yet another wonderful piece and great photos….everyone is entitled to there own opinion…but I will say that all the negative comments/rants are getting a bit tiresome on this website. If anyone wants to put me in front of the firing squad for saying that…so be it. We are lucky to have a website showcasing our hood in Brooklyn. I’ve seen others, and they are not so great.
Jeremy Sapienza August 13th, 2009 at 11:24 am
*blink*
Kojo, you have no idea how great it is to see one person out of thousands just say something generally positive. You made my day.
Okay back to hydrants: I agree that streets are playgrounds for children, and the rest of us for that matter, and they should be — they’re a city’s largest and most versatile public space. But this gushing of zillions of gallons of water is taking the idea too far. Other people who don’t want to get wet or who would like decent water pressure or just don’t appreciate the massive waste of clean water should be able to have their preferences at least taken into consideration. Instead, no respect is given anyone else and the streets become sometimes impassable rivers. Sprinkler caps are a good idea and seem to solve most of the open-hydrant problems. Even if they just shut the hydrants off when they’re not being used, it would be so much better.
LIExpressway August 19th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
This has been done in the neighborhood (and a lot of other parts of Brooklyn) for as long as hydrants existed. I don’t know why people move to places were they don’t like either the people or the surroundings, and then complain.
Just go home. It’s over already.
And don’t give me that environment shit either.I’m sure your middle/west/class suburban families have had a far larger environmental footprint then these folks ever have have, no matter how long the hydrants are on.
Lying hypocritical fucks.
miss_subways August 20th, 2009 at 5:05 am
L.I.E., it’s a little more complicated than that. Just because this has been done for ‘as long as hydrants existed’ doesn’t mean it should go unexamined or unopposed now. There is a genuine environmental concern here, and saying it should just be accepted is basically saying that we should just ignore anything that wastes vast amounts of natural resources for the benefit of very few peoples’ temporary amusement, all for the sake of nostalgia.
And people (particularly those who would be reading this site) move to places they can afford- that being their primary motive- and often do end up not liking the people or the surroundings. And that has been happening in this city longer than open hydrants in the summer, and yes, it even happens in the middle class suburbs.
Basically, I am saying that people who move to a neighborhood don’t need to just shut the fuck up and leave when they see something going on that is genuinely selfish and a benefit to few while a drawback to many.
Brian H August 26th, 2009 at 11:57 am
The streets are no substitue for backyards. If they want backyards then make it happen and buy a house. Hydrants open in the summer are both dangerous and ghetto. Nothing endearing about it and those parents are nuts to allow their small children to play in the streets like that. Head to the local playgrounds there are sprinklers there. This ridiculous notion that the public streets can solve all the short comings that come along with living in apts is so old. Be respectful above everthing else and stay inside. Oh and btw, stop loitering on the stoops also. Another great summer image.
Jeremy Sapienza August 26th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Gushing hydrants making streets impassable and wasting water are one thing; people “loitering” on their own stoops is another. The streets ARE a perfectly valid outdoor space for people to spend time, but should do it respectfully. That’s the issue here: respecting your neighbors enough to not impose on them. Stoop-sitting doesn’t impose on anyone, at least nobody merely walking by.
chillinoncentral August 26th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Years ago, police officers would ride around Bushwick closing open hydrants most hot days… the local precinct probably closed hundreds over a weekend. And, they also carried some of those free sprinklers to apply if they found too many locals enjoying a particular johnny-pump. I also think there’s a $750 fine if you are caught opening one. I do agree that children are just enjoying their childhood while playing in sprayed water, but kids don’t need powerful river-like surges of water to have fun… I’d rather see them doing it safely in a playground than on a street. Great post and pics, Diego!
guyang September 4th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
It does both me to see every hydrant on the street gushing with water and flooding the street like rapids. i grew up in bklyn and we used water hoses, water guns or water balloons. those are easy to get and just as fun. though i immediately think of wastefulness and the environment, its probably not the first instinct for these kids or their parents because they weren’t taught this, not because they are selfish. i went to school in parkslope and that neighborhood was all about being liberal, loving the environment and eating organic. this neighborhood doesn’t have everything some other neighborhoods have so they just don’t give a whoop about dried up river beds ect. but the kids are pretty wild here…just different cultures i guess.