Public Fire Hydrants Servicing

[Pip]

As we all like to refer to British Standards when discussing "fire safety" issues  i.e. If something is "installed, tested & maintained to the BS then it will be ok" perhaps we should refer to the BS for hydrants - BS650 - which recommends that hydrants are inspected on a six-monthly basis!

I thought it was BS 750 every recruit had to make a list of 10 features of a hydrant and its chamber. Has it now changed?

get real you old dinosaur! :-) don't learn stuff like that nowadays, or flow of water around a pump etc-too many lectures on diversity and fluffy bunnies to fit that in.

[Chris Houston]

Perhaps this is because the appliances that turn up to premises are now more modern & the crews can use less water (high pressure hosereels rather then 1" main jets) to extinguish fires and are, consequently, less reliant on the hydrants?
Brigades also have the locations of their hydrants logged on the GIS mapping systems and can, literally, talk a crew towards the nearest (hopefully) available hydrant.

Are green godesses fitted with this same technology?

[firelawmac]

I believe that Fire and Rescue services stopped hyrant inspections to free up time for fire prevention work, i.e. putting up detectors'

[Chris Houston]

Detectors don't prevent fires.

[Dinnertime Dave]

Are green godesses fitted with this same technology?

I think they have all been sold off.

Your right Pip, all those old values gone, we`ve just recieved a 'firefighter under development' who had no idea how long a tank full of water (1800 litres) would last with one main jet working, and therefore not knowing the importance of of finding a hydrant. They don`t have time to teach that on a 4 week recruit course.

Chris, we still need those hydrants my brigades procedures require a covering jet to be placed at the entrance of a building in case of backdraughts.

[firelawmac]

Detectors don't prevent fires.

ok if you want to be picky!!! I believe that Fire and Rescue services stopped hyrant inspections to free up time for fire prevention work, i.e. Carrying our youth engagement and working with vulnerable adults by targeting community safety education to these high risk members of the community by carrying out home safety checks which includes 'putting up detectors'!!!

(Personally that is all encompased within the term Fire Prevention)!!!

Disappointing from forum admin!

[Chris Houston]

Are green godesses fitted with this same technology?

I think they have all been sold off.

Sorry for going off topic........

If fire fighters went on strike, would the army use the FRS equipment? Are they trained to use it?

[AnthonyB]

The last I heard was that 'Red Godesses' were the replacement, i.e. ex LA & ex lease hire engines from the 80's & 90's, in fatc a few appeared during the last strike. These would provide a more rapid response & better pump & tank capacity, however I don't know about RTC kit & BA as I think it wasn't a kit shortage that was the issue but the lack of BA wearers in the military, only a few trades receive it as standard

[afterburner]

I may be corrected on this, but I think the AFS Green Monsters, (let's not grace them with the 'Goddess' nickname applied by the AFS) were in fact fitted with a 400 gallon tank, which compares very well with the modern appliance. As for a better pump I seem to recall the Green Monster was capable of 1000 gallons per minute through normal deliveries or through the 6" input / output connections (shades of the New Dimension HVP capability). However, the comment about a more rapid response is very valid. The Green Monster drank petrol (in gallons) but never converted the power into forward speed with any enthusiasm.

[Mike Buckley]

Hang on don't dis the Green Goddess, they were never meant for peacetime fire fighting. They were designed for the aftermath of a nuclear attack following the experiences of WW2. Yes they drank petrol but given the era they were built in so did everything, they were slow but they were crosscountry vehicles and they had monster pumps for pump relay work (remember that?).

As a by I remember one hot summer my brigade hired a couple of GGs for grass fire work, we were able to get them in and out of places that would have wrecked a standard fire appliance.

[nearlythere]

Despite what BS tests are recommended hydrants are not, to my knowledge, TESTED anymore as a matter of routine because of the problems with contaminating the public water supply. Not with chemicals but with silt. Water pipes will have a degree of settled silt lying in them and this remains relatively static with the normal movement of water through the main. Whenever a hydrant is opened the movement of water is much increased. This, coupled with  the effects of water hammer, can disturb the silt which ends up coming through the taps. Complaints had been received from house holder and the practice was stopped.
Hyrants are now usually checked to ensure the pit is not filled with rubbish, that the stand pipe screws in properly and the post and plate is OK.

[AM]

Despite what BS tests are recommended hydrants are not, to my knowledge, TESTED anymore as a matter of routine because of the problems with contaminating the public water supply. Not with chemicals but with silt. Water pipes will have a degree of settled silt lying in them and this remains relatively static with the normal movement of water through the main. Whenever a hydrant is opened the movement of water is much increased. This, coupled with  the effects of water hammer, can disturb the silt which ends up coming through the taps. Complaints had been received from house holder and the practice was stopped.
Hyrants are now usually checked to ensure the pit is not filled with rubbish, that the stand pipe screws in properly and the post and plate is OK.

Co-incidently, there is an article about this in Private Eye this week related to the Newquay fire.

[afterburner]

Mike, I wasn't dissing the Green Monster, I remember them very well, with a mixture or fondness, admiration and some hostility. My first posted station had a 6 bay engine room (for the 'regular' fire brigade) and a 6 bay AFS Station which opened into the drill yard. This AFS Station had Green Monsters permanently attached and these Monsters were always brought into use when we broke the red ones. (years before Brigade Reserve Appliances were thought of).
We would put our 'full time' kit aboard the Monster (which in fact meant squeezing it all in wherever it would fit) and it was then 'on the run' as a full time appliance. No radio, no blue lights and a ding -a -ling bell. Turnouts involving uphill runs were timed with a calendar. Getting around roundabouts was a challenge of powerless steering over powerless brakes!
But we never, ever broke a Monster. We'd use them, put them back and get them out again when the red engine needed attention.
Your comment about the Green Monsters being for post nuclear attack were spot on. They were designed for this purpose, not for first response urban firefighting.

[Dinnertime Dave]

Your comment about the Green Monsters being for post nuclear attack were spot on. They were designed for this purpose, not for first response urban firefighting.

Surely not, the ones that I`ve seen have been disabled by a pothole or speedhump.

[afterburner]

Ah but Dave,
all the pot holes and speed bumps would have been erased by the bucket of instant sunshine. The Monsters would then have rolled along miraculously debris free roads (which remained intact despite the efforts of the Bomb), in their mobile columns bringing relief to population of the big cities waiting patiently under the mushroom cloud for assistance. (Performing to design)
Actually I recall the intended purpose of the 6" through delivery was more to do with supplying drinking water than firefighting water.  
In the 60's when we used them 'on the run' there were no speed bumps, and pot holes were funny caves full of funny people who occasionally needed rescuing (happliy there were no such potholes in our little corner of the UK). Nowadays of course potholes have risen to surface of the Earth where they apparently lie in wait for errant Green Monsters.