Symbolizing Fire Hydrants on the Ground, Not the Map

The Toldeo Blade reviews how many of the big cities in Ohio convey information to firefighters about the pressure available from different hydrants. Some must look it up on paper, others will have laptops in their trucks. But in Akron it’s all right there in full color, on the hydrant.

For more than 20 years, fire crews in Akron have known the number of gallons per minute to expect from a hydrant based on the color of the hydrant’s dome. In that city, red, orange, green, and white-domed fire hydrants dispense 500, 501 to 1,000, 1,001 to 1,500, and more than 1,500 gallons of water per minute, respectively.

Columbus has tried to implement a similar system, but a public perception problem prevented implementation. In short, people will question why their local hydrant is low flow. Instead, Columbus is moving off paper water atlases to laptops.