Prep begins to fill cistern

The weight of a garbage truck broke through a long-unused cistern Friday in the alley behind Mamma Mia’s Pizza in downtown Burr Oak.

Village council member Joe Bogucki, overseer of the streets department, said before the era of hydrants, the fire department with horse-drawn engines had various cisterns throughout the village to gather rain water for firefighting.

Kevin Norton, former director of Burr Oak Public Works, set the wheels in motion to fill the 10-by-8-foot cistern in the evening. He was assisted by Lexie Wyatt of DPW.

Several feet of dirt between the street and the cistern was held in place by once-heavy timbers, which had rotted over time.