Southwest Michigan is experiencing high temperatures this week, leaving many looking for a way to cool off.
In an effort to beat the heat, the City of Kalamazoo opens fire hydrants to help the community cool off. It has a list of resources for heat relief.
In the early afternoon, with help from a colleague, city worker Robert Wilson unscrewed the cap to a hydrant on Washington Avenue at March Street in the Edison neighborhood.
Wilson says the water can get down into the 50s, which can cool you off quick.
I asked Wilson if he ever goes into the water on these types of hot days.
“Sometimes yeah,” Wilson said. “Yeah, when I’m getting too hot, I’ll just run through it real quick to get that sprinkle effect, ya know.”
Wilson said they open the hydrants in neighborhoods with a lot of kids playing outside.
“We can’t open every hydrant, but the ones we do are the prominent neighborhoods like these with kids running around all the time,” Wilson said.
There weren’t any just then, but the hydrants stay open into the evening.
