Burbank Paramedics received a call at 2:15 pm Thursday afternoon of a possible traffic accident with injuries with a sheared fire hydrant at the corner of Angelino and Kenneth.
Upon arriving, Truck 11 reported that the hydrant had been knocked over but were unable to stop the flow of water because the water was reaching a power line above and did not want firefighters to be subject to a possible electrocution.
Burbank resident Mark Olguyn was nearby when the accident occurred, “I heard 2 impacts, one was the 2 cars hitting, and the other was the red SUV here that hit the afire hydrant.”
Steve Baghoomian, also a local resident was quickly on the scene stating, “I heard a loud crash and then a second crash, so I came outside and the water was already spraying.
I got to the passenger side door of the Explorer, and the woman was already in the passenger seat, because she couldn’t get out of the drivers side, and she couldn’t get the door open, so I pulled the door open enough for her to come out.”
Neither driver was seriously injured, although they both complained of some pain with Paramedics checking both out for minor injuries. They declined to go to the hospital.
Burbank Police Officer Randy Lloyd was on scene taking a report, “There was a car northbound on Kenneth, and there was a car East Bound on Angelino. The (driver of the) eastbound car said she stopped for the stop sign, and she saw it was clear and then proceeded into the lawful pathway of the northbound vehicle.
It appears to be that she did not see the car on Kenneth driving north bound. We don’t think speed was a factor. One car went into a fire Hydrant on the north east corner, and into the wall of that residence. So it appears to be a Failing to yield at a stop sign violation.
Burbank Water & Power responded to the scene to assist with the sheared fire hydrant that had been shooting water 100 feet into the air for about 30 minutes.
“We got here, and we saw water spraying up onto the power lines (4000V),” said Jeff Beckett, a BWP Supervisor, “The main issue is when they pull the car back, and the water is shooting straight up, you got a chance of it arcing. So we just had them open the loop and re-route it so that were not gonna affect our guys down here turning off the water.”
Once the car was removed, firefighters along with BWP quickly shut down the water.
Editors Note: Photographer Edward Tovmassian assisted with this story.
