On Saturday, May 17, an Orcas Island fire truck was drawing water from the hydrant at the station, when an aid call came in.

The fire truck was pulled away from the hydrant without disconnecting the threaded connection, causing the hydrant to pull out of its connection to a large water main below ground.

The damage was immediately apparent, Chief Mike Harris said, and the Eastsound Water Users Association (EWUA) shut off the water.

According to Paul Kamin, General Manager of EWUA, “Before shutting off the water EWUA lost 160,000 gallons of water, enough to supply more than 30 homes for a month. The accident caused outages and brown water issues through town.” It will take several weeks to complete design, order parts and schedule installation.