Plans to install additional fire hydrants along the last mile of North Washington Street inside Vicksburg’s corporate limits will be revived.

Weather permitting, work could begin this month by city crews to add 12 to 15 hydrants and 4,000 feet of 8-inch water lines to serve them, Public Works Director Bubba Rainer said.

Once completed, homes and businesses near the intersection with U.S. 61 North, annexed by the city in 1990, will have the basic firefighting infrastructure for the first time. A similar project in south Vicksburg wrapped up in late 2007 after legal issues with contractors.

Delays on the north end stemmed from the final phase of citywide resurfacing by APAC Mississippi, which included North Washington Street. The project was closed out within the past month, Rainer said.

“It’s possible we can get up there in the next few weeks or so,” Rainer said.

The gap in firefighting capacity was magnified by a spectacular blaze that gutted a home in the 5600 block last week. Vicksburg fire trucks had to connect to a hydrant a mile south of the house because no hydrants were closer. No injuries were reported, but the home appeared to be a total loss.

Fire Chief Keith Rogers said Tuesday there was no indication of foul play involved and explosions reported by neighbors as firefighters arrived on the scene shortly after 9 a.m. likely originated from a utility room. While an investigation is ongoing, Rogers indicated crews faced an uphill battle upon arrival.

“It had been burning for quite some time,” Rogers said.

Pumping capacity of the new pumps could be limited by the size of the feeder pipes. The hydrant used to supply water to fight Friday’s blaze — one of three reported inside the city in four hours — was capable of pumping 800 to 1,000 gallons of water per minute. Hydrants elsewhere in the city fed by larger pipes can pump up to 1,500 gallons per minute.

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Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com.