Missing hydrant returned

YAKIMA – The hydrant in the bedroom was the elephant in the living room.

A 400-pound, green and yellow fire hydrant apparently spent more than 30 years in the upstairs bedroom of a Yakima couple’s home before it was returned recently to the West Valley Fire District, after the man’s death.

The wife discovered clippings from the Yakima Herald-Republic that detailed how the hydrant had disappeared in June 1975. She called West Valley Fire Chief Dave Leitch late last month and offered to return it, the newspaper said.

“I think it’s just kind of neat that something like that ever came back,” Lt. Walter Lindsey said.

Lindsey, who joined the department as a volunteer in 1968, said the hydrant was used during training for “make and break” competitions. The drills were popular in the 1970s and ‘80s as a way for firefighters to practice laying hose and connecting hydrants.

Lindsey said the hydrant apparently fell from a truck while its crew was returning from a practice.

It’s not known how the object got to the couple’s bedroom.