One weekend earlier this month, Curtis and Howard Kemp completed their Eagle Scout project which included scraping (wire brush), solvent cleaning, and painting more than 100 fire hydrants in the City of Oakdale. The fire captain working near one of the hydrants located on Walnut Avenue came over to personally thank them, noting that the department itself has not had time to repaint the hydrants in several years.

Helping coordinate the project was dad Hiram Kemp.

“We had between 15 to 20 volunteers. The city wanted 50 hydrants for each brother,” Kemp explained. “We started at 7:30 a.m. and were done by 3:30 p.m. Some of these hydrants looked like they had not been painted for years.”

The younger boys are following the example of their older brother Christian Kemp, who, in 2008, poured concrete at the animal control facility around the cages as part of his Eagle Scout effort.

Christian, who joined the U.S. Army after high school, was a Cavalry Scout and was honorably discharged. He is currently in school to be certified for heavy equipment operator.

“We would like to thank our awesome volunteers for all their help,” added Kemp. “Dwayne and Jeff Roberts, Jeff Black with Black Water Engineering, Ozzie Stout with Stout Concrete, Bob Ramos, Lane Hable, and Shirley Hable of Realty World, Central Valley and all the outstanding scout volunteers from Troop # 42.”

The City of Oakdale provided rags, spray paint, solvent, wire brushes, safety glasses, and gloves.

“Dad, of course, provided donuts,” noted Kemp.