Under regular circumstances, seeing the Bridgeport Fire Department’s heavy rescue truck situated outside of the city pool may not be a good thing. On Monday, however, it was as much a good thing as it was a regular warm weather thing.

 

Crew from the city’s fire staff were on hand as workers with Bridgeport’s Parks and Recreation Department had to go underground to do maintenance work. The work was part of the process needed to make sure the highly popular sprayground will be ready when pool season opens.

 

“It is routine maintenance and it’s something we do every year,” said P&R Deputy Director Joe Shuttleworth. “That helps keep the sprayground up and running.”

 

The process Monday saw P&R worker Jack Fenton heading into the area underneath the sidewalk just outside the gated sprayground. Fenton was working to ensure the 5,000 gallon concrete tank situated under the sidewalk will function properly.

 

Shuttleworth describe the tank and the system that operates it similar to a system that operates a swimming pool. The tank holds the water that is treated, circulated and filtered into and out of the play area at the pool. The concrete tank holds all of the water for the sprayground.

 

“They had to do routine maintenance on the system,” said Shuttleworth. “We clean the tank once a year as you get sand and other debris from the sprayground into the tank and it needs to be removed. While we’re under there we also have valves that need to receive regular service.”

 

While that explains why P&R staff was under the surface, it doesn’t explain why the Bridgeport Fire Department was on hand. Shuttleworth said it’s a common occurrence.

 

“They show up because we’re working in a confined space and the city policy calls for the fire department to be on hand when we’re working in that situation. The fire department will check the atmosphere in the hole to make sure it’s safe to enter and in the event there’s any problem they are on hand to help,” said Shuttleworth. “Whenever our workers go down they are strapped in just in case an extraction is necessary.”

 

Shuttleworth said Monday’s work proved to be uneventful.