Nov. 11--A broken fire hydrant prompted the closure of a downtown Colorado Springs street while firefighters battled an attic fire.
The hydrant stopped working shortly after a fire broke out in the attic of a house on the 600 block of N. Nevada Avenue, said Sunny Smaldino, the Colorado Springs Fire Department spokeswoman. The owner of the house was doing electrical work when the attic ignited.
"It was purely accidental," Smaldino said. "It was just a wiring issue."
Firefighters first used water from firetrucks to douse the blaze, Smaldino said. But when they tapped a nearby fire hydrant, it wouldn't stop spouting water, she said.
The broken hydrant didn't affect firefighters' ability to battle the blaze, which was mostly contained to the attic, Smaldino said.
A portion of N. Nevada Avenue, however, was closed for nearly two hours while crews repaired the hydrant.
