Fire hydrants in the Altoona area are getting a makeover, and it’s all thanks to two boy scouts.
“It was a lot I guess, so I didn’t know it was going to take a lot of time,” said Jared Markel.
Markel is 14 and in 9th grade at Altoona Area Junior High School. He said about two thousand fire hydrants stand between himself, his friend Isaiah Freet, and an Eagle Scout Award.
“All of 2nd avenue’s done and that’s by my house,” Freet said. “I did those and Jared did around his house.”
Markel estimated the two started in September. He said he hopes to be done by next summer.
“[The water authority] walked us through the first one we did,” Markel said. “First thing we had to do is put basically pieces of cardboard underneath them. We had to scrape it off with wire brushes, all of the rust and everything that was on it.”
Compared to the weathered and rusty fire hydrants, the freshly painted ones are easy to spot.
“All of the paint is chipping off and there’s some of them there’s cement all over it ’cause they didn’t install them right, so it’s a little easier for the fire department to see it,” Freet said.
“I can say, you know, the project’s valuable where the scouts are achieving their requirements for their Eagle Scout award and the city of Altoona and Logan Township basically we benefit from the nice, neat appearance these freshly painted fire hydrants are giving the community,” said Altoona Water Authority General Manager Mark Perry.
Each hydrant is painted according to water pressure. Super-high pressure is blue and yellow; high pressure is green and yellow; low pressure is red and yellow.
“Last Friday one of the fire departments, there was a fire up by one of them, and they used the one we painted the night before,” Freet said. “They came by and said thank you.”
The two figure they have around 50 done so far, since they’re only painting on weekends. They said it is taking awhile, but it’s a learning experience.
“I guess learning leadership skills from it ’cause we have to direct what to do next and tell people how to do it,” Markel said.
Once spring rolls around the boys plan to get the rest of Troop #25 involved to help finish this big project.