Using a Fire Hydrant - Disaster Info

To use a fire hydrant you need a special wrench. Now would be a good time to look outside your home and determine what kind of hydrant is close by and what kind of tool is necessary to open them. Different states in the United States have different standards. Some hydrants require a special magnetic wrench to open them. There is a lock consisting or iron bars which must be lifted up by a magnet before the wrench will operate. Many cities adopted to to prevent children from opening hydrants in the summer.

Normally you need a permit to use a hydrant. Bureaucracy being what it is, you can undoubtedly expect a ticket after the nuclear holocaust while you are decontaminating your family at a hydrant.

The thing to have on hand is a hydrant wrench or spanner. Generally hydrant valves are pentagon shaped or square, 1 1/4 inch through 1 1/2 inch.  There is another tool sometimes necessary called a "spanner". Do a google search.

It is very desireavle to be able to connect your garden hose to a fire hydrant, both for fire fighting purposes, decontamination or to provide potable water.

The next necessity is an adapter so you can connect your garden hose to the fire hydrant. Usually this is  65mm female connector to a 3/4 inch male connecter. They range in price from $30 to $70. An example would be the Rittenhouse HA2576 at $70.  Again, do an internet search. In a disaster you will not be able to find these at any price.

Hydrants can deliver water at a tremendous amount of pressure so always open them slowly. Expect several turns before water begins to come out.

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There is a product called Barricade Gell, which is very expensive and advertised for use with a garden hose to protect a home from a brush fire. The gell contains the water for a period of time.

A simpler way to protect a roof is to use a hose with an inexpensive car-wash accessory and add detergent to the water sprayed on the roof. The detergent lowers surface tension enabling the water to penetrate the wood, rather than roll off. This will cause the wood to remain wet longer before the water evaporates and provide a greater weight of water per square foot of surface.