Long Island News

The Suffolk County Water Authority has launched an investigation to determine why two of its fire hydrants were frozen when Brentwood firefighters responded to a house fire last month but were unable to extract water to extinguish the blaze.

The inoperable hydrants impeded members of the Brentwood Fire Department, who had arrived at a Brentwood residence about 7:30 a.m. Jan. 31, 2009 to battle a house fire, according to Rick Belyea, the department’s spokesman. Belyea says that although torches were installed on hydrants at the scene to help rectify any pressure issue in the event they were definitively frozen solid, firefighters were unable to retrieve water, and instead, located working hydrants nearby.