– Kingfisher City Manager Jim Thomas

Kingfisher City Manager Jim Thomas and his wife were 1,200 miles away for the birth of a granddaughter Friday morning when they received news that Kingfi sher would be out of water before the day was over due to a burst chlorine pipe at the water plant located on the north side of the city.

“I felt so helpless. There was not much I could do from 1,200 miles away, but I am so proud of City Clerk Brittney Hladik and the employees down here at City Hall, Water Department Superintendent Jeremiah Homier and his staff, our fi re department crew, and basically everyone who works for the City of Kingfi sher for working together to get the problem resolved.

They had water flowing back to the community within 12 hours,” he said.

The water pumps were under 20 feet of water when the water department employees came to work Friday morning.

“I immediately called an engineer who told me that it would probably take a day and a half to get all the water out of the water towers before the town was completely out of water, but obviously that was not the case, because businesses and residences began running out by 11 a.m. Friday,” he said.

Thomas said the fire department quickly arrived at the water plant and pumped the water out of the concrete tank, so that the pumps could be reached and then the water department employees began removing them from their housing.

A pump was taken to Allen Ludwig of Tony’s Electric who then baked it in an oven to remove all traces of moisture so that it could be taken apart and reassembled.

“It was truly a community effort,” he said. “Everyone came together to help. It was very rewarding to have that kind of cooperation,” he said.

Hladik said parts were ordered from a supplier in Dallas, Texas and a hotshot delivery truck brought them to Kingfisher Friday evening.

Thomas said one pump was running by 8:30 p.m. Friday night, bringing water to the entire community. And by 12:30 Saturday afternoon the water department staff had all three pumps back up and running at full capacity.

Hladik and Thomas commended Homier for spending Friday night into Saturday morning with the one running pump to ensure it did not malfunction, while the rest of his staff went home to get some sleep.

The entire staff then worked Saturday morning to get the new equipment in place to get production back up to full capacity.

Thomas said an internal study would be done within a few days to study the problem that arose and to ensure measures are in place to keep something like this from happening again.

“There was truly nothing anyone could have done. Sometimes pipes will burst, and problems like this come up,” he said.

Hladik and Thomas said support from fire departments from surrounding communities was greatly appreciated, as water was distributed to Kingfisher residents at the Kingfisher County Fairgrounds Friday afternoon.

“Many, many people and businesses helped out at the fairgrounds. Cimarron Electric employees and many, many more. It was just very rewarding to get that kind of help,” Thomas said.

“You find out who your friends are in a tough situation like this and we are blessed to have many very good friends,” he said.