Nobody wins this game and I hope The Woodlands Community Service Corporation, The MUDS, City of Houston, The Woodlands Fire Department, or whoever is responsible will step up and make sure ALL hydrants are visible and in proper working condition..
Fire Hydrant barely visible in The Woodlands
News article from CATW NEWS.
Safety or Camouflage?
May 30, 2007
Community Activists of The Woodlands (CATW) recently investigated a safety concern that most residents of The Woodlands share.
Using the Community Associations of The Woodlands Online Communication System, CATW asked why the fire hydrants in The Woodlands are green and not red.
An unidentified source from the Community Associations of The Woodlands advised “The hydrants have a white bonnet (the top). The white paint is a special reflective paint which makes it easier to see at night. We also provide a blue reflective marker in the street which helps with locating the hydrant. In addition, all our apparatus are equipped with books noting where each hydrant is located.”
CATW’s investigators found the hydrants are not reflective unless a light is shining straight at the bonnet. The investigators also noted multiple hydrants without a blue reflective marker in the street. The hydrants without the blue markers in the street were seen on Cochran’s Crossing Drive, New Trails Drive, Lake Woodlands Drive, Sylvan Forest Drive and several other residential streets.
Joe Merrill, Founder of CATW, says “While CATW appreciates the beauty of The Woodlands, we are more concerned with safety. Why should our firefighters have to search for small reflective bonnets, rely on blue reflective markers in the street that are not there, or flip through a book? If a residents home is on fire and lives are in danger, there is no time to waste” Merrill stated that he will personally contact the Community Associations of The Woodlands to ask that all the missing blue reflective markers are replaced.
Have questions? The Community Associations of The Woodlands can be contacted at 281-210-3800 or services@catw-tx.org. The Woodlands Fire Department can be contacted at wfd@catw-tx.org.
May 30, 2007
Community Activists of The Woodlands (CATW) recently investigated a safety concern that most residents of The Woodlands share.
Using the Community Associations of The Woodlands Online Communication System, CATW asked why the fire hydrants in The Woodlands are green and not red.
An unidentified source from the Community Associations of The Woodlands advised “The hydrants have a white bonnet (the top). The white paint is a special reflective paint which makes it easier to see at night. We also provide a blue reflective marker in the street which helps with locating the hydrant. In addition, all our apparatus are equipped with books noting where each hydrant is located.”
CATW’s investigators found the hydrants are not reflective unless a light is shining straight at the bonnet. The investigators also noted multiple hydrants without a blue reflective marker in the street. The hydrants without the blue markers in the street were seen on Cochran’s Crossing Drive, New Trails Drive, Lake Woodlands Drive, Sylvan Forest Drive and several other residential streets.
Joe Merrill, Founder of CATW, says “While CATW appreciates the beauty of The Woodlands, we are more concerned with safety. Why should our firefighters have to search for small reflective bonnets, rely on blue reflective markers in the street that are not there, or flip through a book? If a residents home is on fire and lives are in danger, there is no time to waste” Merrill stated that he will personally contact the Community Associations of The Woodlands to ask that all the missing blue reflective markers are replaced.
Have questions? The Community Associations of The Woodlands can be contacted at 281-210-3800 or services@catw-tx.org. The Woodlands Fire Department can be contacted at wfd@catw-tx.org.
Update: CATW has been working closely with the WJPA and they have ensured that the Developer owned streetscape maintenance crew, Brickman, has been clearing the hydrants.
7 comments:
So where is the Fire Hydrant?
How many Donut Shops are there in the Woodlands? I bet that they are more visible than the Fire Hydrants. I read some place that there is a national code on Fire Hydrants, if ture why is it not followed here?
I guess we need a visit from Smokey The Bear... as it looks like he should be running the fire business up here!
http://www.firehydrant.org/info/hycolor.html
The color of the hydrant does not make it any more visible especially at night! The color system is an indicator of the flow of the hydrant If you all are wooried that the FD will not be able to find a hydrant there are maps that they use that have all the hydrants. If a new street goes in than the FD drives those streets and places them on a map for that area and it gets to all the apparatus ASAP. The residents need to take it upon themselves to keep a hydrant on their property free and clear of any and all landscaping. Many customers have called and complained when they had there flowers trampled when the hydrant was used for an emergency or to check it's status. In an emergency I don't think flowers are on the minds of the FF's and the family(s) they are trying to help. The blue reflectors in the street are the key at night. Unless you can place a flashing light at the hydrants, color of the body or bonnet will not help. And as for the reflective paint it does help but then again the reflective pieces can be placed in any color but do work best with white. I don't think the hydrant color will ever change since it matches grass. Maybe if we could renae the colors to match nature colors they would "consider". Anyways the FD line personel are not worried about finding hydrants just that they should be free of landscaping.
TO: Anonymous of 6-5-2007;
I understand about the maps... and that is great; but when there is an emergency or an accident, you typically don't stop to take out a map, read it, get your bearings, but more than not you rely on the visible and obvious. Example: if you see a bellowing cloud of smoke rising, are you gonna read a map on how to get there or just drive towards the sight of the smoke?
This is instinctive and most all humans follow that tendency....
In safety engineering, we have standards, colors, signs and procedures, as pulling out a "map" in a time of need and trying to read where the safety cutoff is located, is just not practical. It is always located in a standardized location and you look for the color coded cutoff based upon the circumstances. By the time you pull out the instructions or "map" you might be toast.
It stands to reason and logic that each level of precaution, when properly followed, will yield a higher or greater positive results. Those that wish to disagree will find that the laws of nature will have a greater power... then I.
Here is a good one and I will explain WHY HYDRANTS BY THIS PERSON'S LOGIC SHOULD BE "YELLOW" ( I corrected the spelling)
I don't think the hydrant color will ever change since it matches grass. Maybe if we could rename the colors to match nature colors they would "consider". Anyways the FD line personnel are not worried about finding hydrants just that they should be free of landscaping.
If you follow the logic, and look at the number of dogs that have marked my hydrant, then the color needs to be changed to YELLOW!
I do believe that location a hydrant should be a higher priority... if I can't find it, then what good does it do to worry about landscaping?
Ok again...i have made the emergencies and yes we do look a the map for the primary and secondary hydrants location is important to how the situation will be handled and the position of next in fire trucks. There are several Map bools that are provided for the FD. So yes in an emergency we do look at hydrants and the loctions ON A MAP. I guess we are atypical. If we took to the bug in bug zapper (zappers use light to attract bugs that end up being fried in most cases) approach and just followed the smoke then our arrival times would be much greater due to weather conditions and how it affects smoke movement. Not only that but then we would be focused on the sky and not the road and the way people don't move to the right around here for all emergency vehicles, we would be causing accidents. The location of the hydrants for the most part are known by those that need to know it.
Reminds of of the time back in the late 1800s when it was proclaimed that everything had been invented... then along came Thomas Edison and invented the light bulb.....
The location of the hydrants for the most part are known by those that need to know it.
...and there could never be a time when Personnel from one assigned station would wind up fighting a fire in another station's area, and yes of course everybody knows where all 4,000 fire hydrants are located.... just like picking your teeth... you know where every crack and crevasse is!
We have hydrants left in Kingwood but the city of Houston turned off the water. That's after they took the fire trucks.
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