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Crime & Safety

Fire Hydrant Face Lift = Safety Upgrade

New look on hydrants means faster coupling for fire department.

Editor's note: Avon Lake Fire Lt. Jeff Moore contributed to this article

 

Last year, those driving through Avon Lake may have on the city’s tree lawns. The white primer was a base for what are now more than 1,600 yellow hydrants in the city.

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This year the hydrants will get another upgrade that includes a safety upgrade courtesy of Avon Lake Municipal Utilities. Utilities will be installing Storz quick connect couplings on all the city’s fire hydrants as water lines are being upgraded or replaced.

Fire engines typically carry LDH (large diameter hose) with Storz couplings on both ends for connections between fire hydrants and pumps. However, hydrants usually have threaded couplings and require an adapter to use with Storz. 

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Firefighters prefer the Storz coupling because connection is quick. Generally, a hose can be locked using it with a 1/4 turn. By comparison, locking hoses using threaded couplings often takes several turns. Because of this, Storz couplings are widely viewed as a safer alternative to using threaded couplings for fire hydrant connections.

The said he improvement will allow firefighters to attach hose to the hydrant in a few seconds rather than up to a minute.

In addition to the improvement in speed and safety, the larger 5-inch opening provides a larger volume of water.

The Storz coupling, invented in Europe in the late 1800s, has been a standard on hydrants throughout Europe for more than 100 years. In the late 1970s fire departments in the United States began using large diameter hose to attach to hydrants and this LDH uses Storz fittings.

*Mark Christ Is the Information Specialist at Avon Lake Municipal Utilities.        Jeff Moore is a Lieutenant at the Avon Lake Fire Department.                                                                                                                             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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