Baffling Discovery Found Inside Hudson Valley Fire Hydrant

Firefighters in the City of Poughkeepsie were surprised to find something inside a fire hydrant that wasn't supposed to be there.

When a fire hydrant isn't working the way it's supposed to, the local fire department springs into action to diagnose the problem and make sure the hydrant is ready in the event it's needed to put out a fire. That's what happened last week in the City of Poughkeepsie when engine three was dispatched from the City of Poughkeepsie Fire Department 596.

The firefighters were checking out a new hydrant that was recently put into service at a construction site. The hydrant was flushed and being tested when it was discovered that the pressure wasn't at the right level. While monitoring the incorrect readings, the firefighters also noticed that there were strange sounds coming from inside the hydrant.

In order to diagnose the problem, firefighters needed to remove the gates and look inside to see what was causing the noise and drop in pressure. After looking down into the discharge, the firefighters were surprised to find something that wasn't supposed to be there. A 25-foot tape measure was inexplicably jammed inside the 2.5-inch discharge outlet.

How the tape measure got in there remains a mystery. It's possible a worker rested the tape measure inside the hydrant pipe before it was put into service and forgot about it. Regardless of how it got there, when the tape measure was finally removed the hydrant was back up and running the way it's supposed to.