Fire Hydrants

Yellow fire hydrants. The industry standard, or so I thought.....

Much to my surprise, I recently discovered hydrants are color-coded. Yellow denotes the water comes from a public water source. Violet indicates the flow traces back to a lake or pond. Red, orange, green, and blue reveal the corresponding water pressure (from <500 gallons per minute to >1,500 gallons per minute).

For years I was blithely unaware of this hydrant hierarchy, perhaps because the fire plugs in my old neighborhood had designs painted on them. One boasted a Boston Bruins logo. Another offered a teddy bear motif. On a particularly vibrant corner, the hydrant was awash in the colors of the rainbow.

There are also more pragmatic variances. As an example, the hydrants in my neck of the woods often sport a long orange stick that extends an additional three feet in the air, in case a passing plow inadvertently buries them in snow. 

Out of sight perhaps, but never out of mind.

"I used to work in a fire hydrant factory. You couldn't park anywhere near the place." – Steven Wright