Hydrants OOS

[Remember585 815]

The other hydrant topic has me thinking.

Are you (your agency I should say) notified when hydrants in your area are out of service?

I know at work we get calls from many of the water departments in Westchester reporting hydrants that are out / back in service. Our policy is to contact the Chief(s) of that Department and what they do with it from there is up to them.

How does your FD handle this?

Ours - honestly, I don't even know of a real system. Maybe the Water Department calls the PD and they go "OK thanks?" Maybe they call the Chief and he doesn't mention it EVER to ANYONE?! Thoughts?

[x635 4,066]

My department recieves a call from Greenburgh Water.

The officers on duty are notified, and communicate it within their ranks.

The firefighters on duty are notified, and then they subsequently notify others at tour changes.

Additionally, the OOS hydrants are written on a chalkboard that members check frequently for first due area updates.

Other then that, nothing. I'd like to see the OOS hydrants tagged, but in Greenburgh, the water department usually is very quick to fix hyrants. We also test a majority of the hydrants in our district once or twice a year to check that they are working.

Also, it's funny to me how some departments will page out a parade, a spaghetti night, or justify some other nonsense being transmitted on 46.26, yet will keep the hydrant thing a secret, especially where members respond in their cars.

Eventually, our MDT's will have the capability to indicate OOS hydrants.

Edited December 7, 2006 by EMTbravo

[mfc2257 464]

In Millwood we rarely knew if a hydrant was OOS.

When I lived in PA, Adams County would make a morning and night broadcast on a non dispatch channel that would list all road closings, hydrants OOS, and apparatus that was OOS. Then if necessary the tour commander for communications would contact the chiefs of the department to recommend any box card changes if the closure or OOS was great enough to warrent it. It usually took a few minutes, but it was very helpful.

Knowing this info can change your order of response for apparatus out of the first due station as well as the order and preference of additional apparatus as listed on the box card.

Just one hydrant OOS in a non water district area can mean the addition of 3 tankers and a source pumper to what might have been a normal 3 engine, 1 ladder, 1 bls response to a residential structure fire. It's nice when the county is up to speed and knows to do this when they strike the first alarm assignment instead of waiting for the first engine to lay out and find that the hydrant doesn't work and hasn't been marked.

Edited December 7, 2006 by mfc2257

[res6cue 67]

44-Control will notify the Chiefs of the affected dept, and if they do wind up getting a call in the area, they'll remind them on the radio as they sign in.

[bartman884 0]

44-Control will notify the Chiefs of the affected dept, and if they do wind up getting a call in the area, they'll remind them on the radio as they sign in.

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Up here (outside Albany) the dispatchers do daily announcements in the morning which include apparatus and hydrants OOS for each department. Helpful, and lends itself well to a smaller system (7 Departments in our town)

[ajsbear 11]

In Putnam there is a daily list of what rigs are OOS but not hydrants. There are not to many hydrant systems I know of. Small systems within a development, villeges like Cold Spring here on the west end. Don't know about Peekskill but I've never heard an announcement on the radio tests. Maybe RWC130 or ALS can fill that in. I also know in Continental Village they work with the water department to do hydrant testing.

Edited December 7, 2006 by ajsbear