Fire hydrant frustrations: Queens residents waiting for fix from city

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A neighborhood in Queens was fired up about a broken fire hydrant. Long after the water ran out, they started running out of options to get it fixed. That's when 7 On Your Side turned up the pressure and got results.

Neighbors on the block are beyond fed up with their broken fire hydrant.

For nearly two months, the busted hydrant has been lying on its side after getting flattened by a car, leaving the block guarded only by hydrants on the corners of 17th Road, more that 250 feet apart.

"What worries me is these are all wood houses," said Tony Squillante, a neighbor. "If they ever had a fire, my house would be on the ground."

"We are very concerned about anybody being killed and our houses being burned," said Antoinette Goscinski, a neighbor.

Goscinski didn't just stand around venting. She was so worried she called 311.

"They said they would respond within three to five days," Goscinski said.

She didn't stop there, she called her Queens State Senator, Tony Avella. Before Christmas, Senator Avella wrote the Acting Commissioner of the DEP, and the FDNY Fire Commissioner requesting immediate response.

The Senator wrote again last week with urgency, citing that he got no response.

So Goscinski's next move was to raise 7 On Your Side's alarm.

"I looked out the window and there they were there. That's fast," Goscinski said.

Within an hour of our call, city DEP workers were out, replacing the old rusted hydrant with a brand new shiny one.

Senator Avella's representative told 7 On Your Side that the FDNY said it was aware of the problem and had planned accordingly in the event of an emergency. The city agency responsible for fixing damaged hydrants, the DEP, never responded to the senator or answered our question as to why the fix took so long.

Goscinski says she was told by a DEP workman that the delay was caused by a backlog of damaged hydrants.