Snowed In Hydrants

[Remember585 815]

Thoughts?

What would you do about this? (For the record, I called Code Enforcement, he went by the next day and most of the snow was melted / washed away already and the fence was re-posted).

Edited March 9, 2008 by Remember585

[MoFire390 118]

its hard to say Remember, I would have done the same thing. I know in my neighborhood I always clear the one infront of my neighbor's house.

[x242Steve 1]

As far as "What would you do if you pulled up to a fire and found the closest hydrant in this condition?"... The one pictured looks like you could clean it off quickly without too much effort. Obviously if its really caked in ice you would have to find another option (hopefully you have another hydrant/another Engine)

If it was in my neighborhood I would clear it myself (like the one directly opposite my front door).

In most places, property owners who have a sidewalk IFO are required to clear it of snow and ice or else risk getting a summons... why doesn't the same apply to property owners with a hydrant IFO?

Edited March 9, 2008 by 242steve

[rfdu39 89]

I always clear the snow off of the hydrants on my street when there is a snow storm.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

For those of you who clear the hydrants on your street...kudos for you!

However he asked what you would do for the hydrant in the picture to get you to think about what you would do anywhere else in your area that's not shoveled.

I'm with 242...this hydrant is snow covered...a couple of stamps around the steamer connection and you should be able to get access, the fence just fold it behind.

The bigger issue would be what if someone put that there due to the hydrant being faulty and (as most times in my areas case) the word didn't filter down the way it should?

If all else fails find another hydrant and communicate your problem!

[jcoppola 52]

Suppose you throw your back out (or worse) while shoveling the hydrant in front of your house...would that be considered a line of duty injury (or worse)??? I write this tounge-in-cheek, but seriously, who else but civic minded individuals like us here would do this? I guess it depends on the location. And, while on the topic, I shovel the hydrant across the street from my house as well as the one in the cul-de-sac on which I live. If I did not do it, it would not get done. Also, the hydrants in my town are all marked with a stake that can be seen in the event that the hydrant is buried under snow.

JVC

[GAW6 66]

For those of you who clear the hydrants on your street...kudos for you!

The bigger issue would be what if someone put that there due to the hydrant being faulty and (as most times in my areas case) the word didn't filter down the way it should?

In my Town, where my husband happens to be the Asst. Superintendent of the Water Dept., when a hydrant is out of service he notifies the appropriate Fire Chief.

Also when we have a big snowstorm, his guys go out and shovel the hydrants. Many people I know shovel out their own, after all it is for their own safety. My 86-year old father even shovels his own hydrant!

Edited March 10, 2008 by jack10562
fixed quote

[firemoose827 324]

In my Town, where my husband happens to be the Asst. Superintendent of the Water Dept., when a hydrant is out of service he notifies the appropriate Fire Chief.

Also when we have a big snowstorm, his guys go out and shovel the hydrants. Many people I know shovel out their own, after all it is for their own safety. My 86-year old father even shovels his own hydrant!

Our water department does this also. They travel around with shovels and clear them. Every fall they attach reflective metal flags that stick up a good 3 feet above the hydrant so it can be easily located like Joe stated. But most of our residents end up clearing hydrants on their property without being asked to.

In my old dept, we used to take the explorers around and we would shovel out the hydrants to help out DPW, than go back to station and have pizza and hot chocolate.

Working in the codes office, we do routinely inspect the hydrants after a snow storm to make sure they are cleared along with sidewalks.

[grumpyff 1,159]

Just a word of advice with the metal flag markers, watch how they are attched to the hydrant. My old department had the ones that slid over one of the smaller side discharges of the hydrant, and are held in place with the cap. Our DPW went to fill the street sweeper with water, and found out that cap on the side with the flag was not on all the way. The cap is only held on by one thread or less. Granted the hydrant was on a large diameter main with a lot of pressure, but the cap came off, and flew for a pretty good distance from what I was told. We used to take off the flag completely, if we utilized a hydrant with a marker like that.

Edited March 10, 2008 by grumpyff

[Dondestro 9]

The only experience i have with flags on hydrants are the spring ones. They are outta your way untill you need to charge it and at that time you would fold it over under you and open it up. In danbury,ct i was told if a hydrant was O.O.S. a black steamer cap was put on. Also every year when they do testing for it they will paint the top of it a different color.( for 2007 the color was purple) so if you cam accross a hydrant painted otherwise it would be very possible it was never test and could be outta service.

[DaRock98 76]

The bigger issue would be what if someone put that there due to the hydrant being faulty and (as most times in my areas case) the word didn't filter down the way it should?

In my Town, where my husband happens to be the Asst. Superintendent of the Water Dept., when a hydrant is out of service he notifies the appropriate Fire Chief.

Also when we have a big snowstorm, his guys go out and shovel the hydrants. Many people I know shovel out their own, after all it is for their own safety. My 86-year old father even shovels his own hydrant!

Do they some how mark the hydrant if it is O.O.S or just tell the chief of the dept.?

[GAW6 66]

Do they some how mark the hydrant if it is O.O.S or just tell the chief of the dept.?

I believe they put a bag over it to show that it is o.o.s.

[DFD801 0]

As Dondestro was refering to, if we come across a bad hydrant during our tests, we paint the top black and note the location. That info is passed on to the Lt. in charge of the annual hydrant testing, who then passes it on through the channels to the water dept. who will make repairs or just replace the hydrant. But the black paint helps us in the event we go to use it at a fire. Atleast we know right away it has a problem and we need to find another one. The color codes we use annually tell us its been checked within a year and should work fine. Seems to work for us.

As far as snow removal, our crews go out if possible while on duty and clear hydrants in our districts. Anyone else do that?

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Unfortunately we often do not get notified either in a timely manner or at all with issues with hydrants. If it wasn't for the efforts of one person within the department it would basically be nothing at all.

We has at one time the metal signs and part of the problem was the kids who would bend them or how they would flat out disappear. We've also seen the problem with the cap not being as tight as normal. We have assembled details during high snow periods to dig out hydrants in the downtown area where the snow gets piled on the corners severely covering the hydrants. But I always wondered...if you do it in one place and not another and an incident occurs could it be some sort of issue legally?

[Guest]

Suppose you throw your back out (or worse) while shoveling the hydrant in front of your house...would that be considered a line of duty injury (or worse)??? I write this tounge-in-cheek, but seriously, who else but civic minded individuals like us here would do this? I guess it depends on the location. And, while on the topic, I shovel the hydrant across the street from my house as well as the one in the cul-de-sac on which I live. If I did not do it, it would not get done. Also, the hydrants in my town are all marked with a stake that can be seen in the event that the hydrant is buried under snow.

JVC

Alot of homeowners in our city shovel their own hydrants. I guess they understand the importance! IF we receive a large amount of snow we go out and shovel hydrants from time to time. Otherwise we have a shovel in the compartment with the hydrant bag and shovel as needed.

[JetPhoto 626]

Several years ago the city of Poughkeepsie went to a structure fire in the middle of winter. They arrived and tried to hit a hydrant that was covered with snow but it was frozen, they hit the next, frozen, I think they got one working but very little water. They ended up using a tanker shuttle, something way out of the norm for the city. In the end, 2 houses were destroyed and several people were injured. I can't recall if this was a fatal but I'm sure our P-town guys could give a better deception

[Guest FFNick]

Compared to a lot of things that can be done to a hydrant, I don't think that pic is all that bad. If that hydrant was in my district, I'd simply get out, bend back the fence and clean up some of the snow. If it was a chronic issue, I'd have a talk with the property manager.

Our Engine Companies are responsible in making sure that their hydrants are accessible, so it is not uncommon to have units out shoveling hydrants after larger storms. It makes for interesting comments from the troops, and unfortunately, on more than one occasion, we've had people get hurt from falling on ice or shoveling too much heavy/compacted snow. We also shovel out our walkways at our stations, which I don't think too many FDs do.

Our Shop maintains our hydrants, and they seem to do a pretty good job of letting us know what ones are out of service. We get a hydrant report once a week with all off duty hydrants, and in between we'll receive notification over the talk alarm which hydrants are off duty or have returned to service.

The only markings that we use are as follows:

Blue steamer caps indicates a hydrant that does not drain - if you use it, notify the Shop

Our bonnets are either yellow or silver - yellow indicates Bridgeport thread, silver is NST.

Edited March 31, 2008 by FFNick

[DCJPells 29]

Several years ago the city of Poughkeepsie went to a structure fire in the middle of winter. They arrived and tried to hit a hydrant that was covered with snow but it was frozen, they hit the next, frozen, I think they got one working but very little water. They ended up using a tanker shuttle, something way out of the norm for the city. In the end, 2 houses were destroyed and several people were injured. I can't recall if this was a fatal but I'm sure our P-town guys could give a better deception

January 1, 2001. Three properties destroyed and 5 fatalities. 14 Dutchess and Ulster Departments involved at scene or in station standby.