Black hydrants and unintended consequences

The state of Texas recently enacted legislation requiring that all non-working fire hydrants, defined as those pumping less than 250 gallons of water per minute, be painted black so that firefighters do not waste time during emergencies hooking up to futile sources (and presumably so that nearby homeowners can also assess their risk before a fire). Alas, the new law has had an unintended consequence, according to this Sept. 18 press release (PDF) from the State Firemen’s and Fire Marshals’ Association of Texas:

Unfortunately, some water utilities in Smith County have over-reacted to the legislation by painting all fire hydrants black, most of which are functioning hydrants that pump well over 250gpm. “The utilities are painting all hydrants black to protect against liability,” said, Cody Crawford, Fire Chief of Chapel Hill Fire Department. “While this makes sense to the lawyers, it doesn’t make good common sense and it puts homeowners at risk.”

Crawford goes on to give his opinion that the practice “creates more liability than it removes”; presumably the water utilities’ lawyers disagree with that assessment (h/t reader Eric Bainter).

8 Comments

  • Liability to whom?

  • Not to mention the lawsuits that will happen after motorists hit the now invisible fire hydrants at nights.

  • Jeff… I believe you mean the motorists hitting the invisible hydrant because they were driving on the sidewalk in an attempt to evade the police after shooting some one while committing a robbery.

  • Paint em black, making the statement that your city can’t provide fire protection even though you pay taxes for a full time fire dept.

    Talk about inviting litigation?

    Paint em blue and put a hose bib on them!

  • Maybe I’m being a bit dense but how does painting all of the hydrants black reduce your liability?

  • What will be the effect on home insurance once the ISO (Insurance Services Office) learns that the utility admits that the nearest hydrant (in fact, any hydrant), is unusable? Can you say “Through the roof?”

  • Mike: if I fail to paint a hydrant black that should’ve been painted black, I may get sued if, as a result, the fire department’s response is delayed finding a working hydrant.

    But if I mistakenly paint a working hydrant black, no one sues me.

    My incentives are therefore to err on the side of painting too many hydrants black.

  • Why in hell are there fire hydrants that don’t work?

    I think if I was a taxpayer in Texas, I’d want all the fire hydrants to work properly. And perhaps an explanation as to why some don’t.