Less than a month after fire consumed a house on a south Vicksburg street with no fire hydrants, officials voted Monday to renew an abandoned project to expand water lines and hydrants in the area.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen, minus vacationing Mayor Laurence Leyens, approved a contract with the Jackson office of engineering firm Allen and Hoshall to complete the construction of new water distribution lines, hydrants and valves in the area annexed 16 years ago. The project, begun in July 2004 by Bowie River Construction of Hattiesburg, was largely completed but stretched well beyond its scheduled August 2005 completion and was left undone earlier this year.

The contract with Allen and Hoshall is not to exceed a total of $4,500 in hourly rates, said City Clerk Walter Osborne. Work should be advertised for contractors in about two months and is expected to be completed by the end of the year, said Jimmy Nelson, an engineer with Allen and Hoshall.

&#8220We’ve got the money left over from the original project,” said South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman, who lives in the project’s target area, on Singing Hills Road. &#8220We can now legally proceed with this contract.”

On June 15, an electrical fire caught at 506 Kendra Drive, where firefighters responding to the blaze were forced to hook hoses to a hydrant on neighboring Belva Drive, around the block from the burning house. Two residents escaped after smoke alarms woke them up, said Vicksburg Fire Department Investigator Leslie Decareaux, but the house was gutted by flames.

Fire Chief Keith Rogers said the absence of a hydrant on Kendra didn’t affect the outcome because the fire had spread out of control before the department arrived, but added it could affect fighting future fires. Residents said they had complained before about the lack of hydrants.

&#8220For more than a year, they’ve been telling us they’re going to get hydrants out here,” said Nita Poole, who lives a few doors down from the consumed house.

Hydrants were planned for Kendra, said Public Works Director Bubba Rainer, but Bowie River crews found 2-inch water lines instead of the required 6-inch lines indicated by maps of the area. Part of the project’s completion will include installing the proper lines, he said.

Municipal standards require a hydrant every 1,000 feet, but most are 300 to 500 feet apart, Rogers said.

&#8220The exact number (of hydrants to be installed), I’m not sure, but they will meet city standards,” Nelson said.

The City of Vicksburg, which was 13 square miles, added 20 square miles in 1990 and has been working to extend municipal-level services since. It is also planning the final phase of a four-step project funded from state money obtained in a grant from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality to extend sewer service to areas on and around U.S. 61 South. The city began accepting bids on that project after finalizing right-of-way easements from property owners last month.

In other business, the board: