As we head into the weekend, here’s a little food for thought…
Ever look at the fire hydrants in your neighbourhood? A few years ago, in Ontario, Fire Hydrants started being colour coded. But do you know what the coding means?
Blue – flow greater than 95 litres/second
Green – flow of 63 to 95 L/s
Orange – flow of 31 to 63 L/s
Red – flow less than 31 L/s
So look around at your area, what colour is protecting your block? Maybe we should start looking at some of the federal infrastructure dollars for fixing the areas protected by red hydrants, instead of dreaming of concrete ditches downtown filled with tap water…
I seem to recall when the Fire Department was fighting the warehouse fire at Walker & Richmond, or maybe the one on McDougall & Hanna, they had to go back a block or two back to find a hydrant with enough pressure to fight the fire.
Something to think about over the weekend. Are Windsor’s priorities in the right place?
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I wonder if the home and property insurance companies know about this and set their fees accordingly. I didn't know this Andrew thanks for posting. If people knew this and that red top hydrants were low flow, would they not consider purchasing a home in that area, thus leading to the eventual demise of the neighbourhood?
Aaaaaargh! The hydrant right in front of my house - RED!!! That's it, I'm selling before this knowledge becomes widespread.
"older piping systems in the province leak an average of 20 to 40 percent of their water. “That results in a significant lowering of their flow. We’ve been warning municipalities about the situation, telling them that just because the problem originates underground doesn’t make it any less dangerous.”
That pretty much describes my older core neighbourhood. I would hazzard to guess that most of the core neighbourhoods in this city have red hydrants, while the blues and greens are located mostly in the newer subdivisions.
“The solution is clear. More investment is needed to upgrade and replace the older watermain systems. We know this is a large capital cost, but we think it’s important for a lot of reasons – maintaining the quality and safety of our drinking water, getting rid of lead pipes, but also ensuring the protection of the public when fires occur,” Zechner added.
Of maybe these old, leaking pipes are a way to bring a canal to Walkerville!
Chris, all the photos above were taken in a 5 or 6 block radius. The flow seems to vary widely from block to block.
I hate to break it to you, by my neighbourhood dates to the late 1890's a good 15-20 years before yours, and I've got blue hydrants on my block... Go figure.
As much as you beg, I'm still not moving to your neighbourhood, Andrew! It's a great area, but - well - YOU live there! That can't be good for property values!
At least the hydrants on my block can put out fires ;)
I have been wondering what the colours meant for months now but hadn't worked up the nerve to call the Fire Department and simply ask. Thanks for this important public service announcement!
Periodically the ENWIN pipe patrol will run the hydrants and check them for water flow. The colours indicate the grade BLue excelent, green okay, orange poor and red is poorest, The fire department can use this information to see if they may need to draw from more than one hydrant at a fire.
While age may contribute to it you may have one that is red and the next one may be blue.
i remember many recent fires where the hydrants weren't good enough to fight the fire. so many things in this city need to be fixed before we get a damn canal.
At least it's right in front of my house... but it's another red top. Andrew to answer your question about Windsor's priorities, I'm afraid canals are sexier than fire protection.