Water sprays about 12 metres into the air from a hydrant. (Meaghan Ketcheson/CBC)

Traffic was blocked for about two hours in Winnipeg's St. James industrial area where a fire hydrant spewed a fountain of water about 12 metres into the air.

Emergency crews responded to a fire at Mattress Plaza in Westview Place, a strip mall in the 1300 block of St. James Street, between Saskatchewan Avenue and Dublin Avenue.

The call came in at about 5:30 a.m. and the fire was extinguished within an hour.

But shortly after crews first arrived, they tried to open the hydrant right in front of the building and the top blew off. The pressure shot the water straight up and then it rained down, creating a lake on the roadway that began to freeze in the –14 C weather.

Bill Clark, assistant chief of operations, said there must have been some kind of fracture in the hydrant.

"The water pressure forced the fracture. Sometimes it forces the top off the hydrant or other times it'll force the entire hydrant right out of the ground," he said.

Crews had to quickly switch to another hydrant in the area.

The scene was cleaned up and cleared just before 8 a.m.

The damage from the fire and water is estimated at $250,000.