Recently I was at an HOA meeting for my neighborhood because of some concerns some homeowners had after a home fire. Like most folks, everyone can recognize the object to the left – quite possibly one of the most recognized safety objects of all time. And the color of the hydrant is red, but what many folks don’t know is that the color of the hydrant is actually tied to the classification of the hydrant and not because all fire protection equipment is supposed to be the color red.
The USA has a “standard” on the classification of hydrants and a color code that goes with the class. And although most of the Hydrants we come across are red in color, did you know that red hydrants are the lowest-rated hydrant? My neighbors had no idea and wanted to know why our “newer” subdivision (20 years old) would have the worst-rated fire hydrants. And so you know, the rating system goes like this; at least in the public sector.
NOTE: At all my facilities where we had a PRIVATE hydrant system, we used the same rating/classification system so as to not cause confusion for the local FD.