When I went to Chicago in September, I was blown away by the difference between the fire hydrants there and what I'm used to here! 

Now I wonder ... what do they look like in other parts of the country and around the world?

They're never far away.  Run outside and take a picture of the nearest hydrant to your house and post it here.  I'm SO curious!!!

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

I like curious.  Tomorrow if I remember I will get that photo taken and up.  Ours are pretty basic. That Chicago one looks made for kids to open and play in the street. I wonder what the tube on the top might be.

One from New Orleans.

That's too cool.   What an awesome hydrant!  It's so tall and thin, but has the basic styling as Seattle's.   Thanks!  :)  (Love the balloons, btw.  Festive touch!)

 

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

**Here's one from Whidbey Island, I know it's not to far from Seattle, but I liked this one... hope you do too..**.

in holland we have connections under ground - when needed the hydrant is connected.

"The light at the end of the tunnel may be an oncoming train"

Finally I found the shot i took of our in november 2007 LOL ! So this is one of them from Denmark.

Love the red one from the island, Akemi!  (Nice angle, btw!)

I didn't think of hydrants as being in the ground, Koosie, but other people have mentioned that option.  Andrea says they've got them underground in her part of England, as well.  Thanks for showing how the hose hooks up!  Our fire hoses are a couple inches in diameter.  Quite a difference!

Thanks for finding this shot, Helle!  Yours are quite different from ours, aren't they?  I KNEW this was going to be interesting!  LOL!

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

long time ago we had them here in holland too - i found an image of one that is still surviving in an architectural protected area.

"The light at the end of the tunnel may be an oncoming train"

Discovered this old hydrant  along an abandoned road  - Captured with my IR converted Canon G6

WEBSITE - www.jcpowellphotography.com

 

FACEBOOK PAGE - https://www.facebook.com/JCPowellPhotography

I was inspired by this - not even my kids could find any!  Then I remember the 'FH's on the road... The FH stencil on the road is augmented by a yellow curb stone, which leads to a cover under which the hydrant lives. Sometimes there is a white concrete post with a yelow H embossed on top. This is a shot of one in my neighbouhood in Cape Town, South Africa. I am keeping my eyes peeled for more versions..

Cheers,
Clive

Thanks for finding the old hydrant, Koosie!  That's a very sleek design.  It makes me wonder why they changed, but hey ... city government is always looking to improve, right?  LOL!

Yours does look old, Joe.  (Love the postwork, btw!)  It's got a heavier, more east-coast-industrial sort of vibe to it.  Same basic design as ours here, but beefier.  Nice!  I've never seen one with a number.  Cool!

Gosh Clive, yours are like solving a mystery!  "X" marks the spot, then five paces East, turn around looking at the ground, and viola! ... there it is!  :P

I know you'll think I'm WAY easily amused (and you would be right) but this is even more interesting than I imagined it would be!  Thanks, everybody!  I'll look forward to seeing what else you all come up with!  :)

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

So as promised, here is my first one, shot taken in New York in 2002...and I will go round and take shots of ours here, cause they do look different...smile

this is to make the picture complete. as the hydrant is below the ground shields like above are mounted on lampposts or on house facades - giving the distance and depth. in the above image the blue ones are for the watermains - the red one is for the hydrant (bk= brandkraan) we do not write on the street :lol:

i love that new york bronze one!

"The light at the end of the tunnel may be an oncoming train"

The brass hydrant on the side of the building is fantastic!  I need to see if we have anything like that here!

How reasonable, to put depth markers out in public!  Here we have a "call before you dig" program.  They send someone out to mark where the lines are, and it takes a couple days.

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Flushing the hydrants by the Lyndhurst Ohio Fire Department: Part One

Flushing the hydrants by the Lyndhurst Ohio Fire Department: Part Two

@ Part One:  Another configuration!  Who knew there were so many?  Thanks for this.

@ Part Two:  LOL!  That's too funny.  Nicely done! 

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

HAHAHAHA! That was really fun, camera. :-)))

Ulla's shot of the New York hydrant sent me back to my archives looking for this photo!  I remember having taken it last winter, but didn't really know what I was seeing at the time ... I just thought it was interesting.  You know, in a  "Pretty!  Brass!" sort of way.  These fire hose connections were on the side of a massive blank wall on a building in downtown Seattle.

Thanks, Ulla!  I didn't know I was going to have another contribution myself!  :)

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Ok, no funny ones here but showing the evolution of hydrants from about 1980 to 25 years later.  Wow...changes galore!

These are in the USA, east of the Mississipi, south of Ohio.

Thanks for remembering, Tom!  These are great.  It makes me wonder about the whys and wherefores of those changes!  Great comparison, and fascinating stuff!

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Tara, I am very proud to display the Johannesburg Fire Hydrants to you. They are not all the same but most are this shape. Colors do vary. Note that every second one is stolen and the others have holes in.... I love the color of our local hydrant though!! *Straight face*

________________________________________________________________

"To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them."

Elliott Erwitt

________________________________________________________________

Lol @ Camera  fine work...smile and nice to see Tara you got the classy ones too...smile And oh my Carin...lol...this is a different form indeed and so handy...lol And here as promised, the ones from Switzerland, the old ones look almost like round the world but the new one, boy they are stylish...lol.. the new ones sometimes even come in the same blue as Carins hydrant

Who knew there were so many different types. LOL at the "Flushing Hydrants"! This is from Massachusetts...

Oh Carin, things are SO different in Afrika!   :| 

Thanks for the pics from Switzerland, Ulla ... the one on the right looks like a shower for small dogs!  :P

Love the colors on the Mass hydrant!

 

 

 

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

How in the heck to you upload a photograph/collage on this subject and what is the limit on pixel size?

Pixel size limit is 800, and size is 200kb.   Below the box where you type is a "browse" button, which you use to search your files just like you do when you upload.  Looking forward to seeing what you've come up with, Harry!

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Captured August of 2005. Just one of many varieties of fire hydrant in my Southern California home town. There was no fire at the time, so I have no idea why the hydrant was hooked up like this.

Great capture!  Bonus points for the hose ... that's pretty cool!

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Wow Harry, this one is different, it first looked to me like some sort of jackhammer...

Hi,
This is my very first post in this forum,so happened I have an old photo would like to share. CC is welcome.
Cheers

Welcome to the forum, 4abnormal!

What a cool shot!  I love the sleek lines of this one.

Where is it?

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Thanks auntietk,
It is in Southern Ontario. Was taken when my early morning walk.
Cheers.

Hi 4abnormal, this is really a cool one, like the coloring

Thanks Mermaid.

Two Fire Plugs in Leavenworth, Kansas. Both plugs are in front of my veterinarian's office.

The big sports rivalry in Kansas is University of Kansas (KU) versus Kansas State (KSU).

Left plug shows KU colors, right plug shows KSU colors.

When you take your dog to the vet, you simply steer him/her to the proper plug to leave a deposit (liquid or otherwise) on your rival's plug. Quite convenient:-)))

Bill:)

P.S. I went to KU, my vet went to KSU. But he still treats my dog VERY WELL.

"Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes."
  

bmac62, that is really neat.       I see the word Leavenworth and think prison... is that the same place?

Around here, if plugs got the school colors, all would be orange.   The variety is good.

That is too funny!  I can see painting two hydrants different school colors, but I can't figure out why there's two to begin with!  I wonder if they both work.  I wonder if the firemen fight over which one to use.  I wonder about a lot of things ...  

 

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

For TomDart and auntietk,

1. Yes, Tom, we do have the notorious Big House here in town...Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary...built between 1903 into the early 1920s. Maximum security 1903-2005. Now a medium security facility with Michael Vick residing here recently.

2. Tara, I expected you to ask about two plugs:) Over the past week, plagued by gray skies, I have driven around town looking at fire hydrants everywhere. 95% or more look the same with only caps painted in different colors. These two (non-working) fire hydrants are what we had style-wise before the latest type which I'll upload soon. I actually like the looks of these better than the newest type. These were sold as surplus a few years ago...my vet couldn't pass them up.

Bill:)

"Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes."
  

Well, better to show hydrants than litter boxes...quite fitting for the vets place.  : )

LOL!!  I get it!  That's too funny.  Sorry to be so slow ... I didn't realize they weren't working hydrants!  Now if I could only explain why it's funny to go six miles down and nine back up, we'd be cookin' with gas, here! 

:D

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

I have even had my children remembering to look out for different hydrants. 

Sean spotted one in a courtyard at the local shopping centre, hence my two firemen in shot.

Cheers,
Clive

Wow!  Thanks, Clive!  And thank your kids for me, as well.  Those are some pretty cute fire fighters you've got there!  :)

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Sorry, the local shopping centre is in Cape Town, South Africa!

Okay, now I'm just plain embarrassed! I live way out in the boonies, population 164, and I've heard we finally got a fire hydrant somewhere here in town, but I don't even know where to look for it! LOL
For the longest time all we had were tanker trucks (which I'm sure they still use) and I was hoping to get a shot of one.

So I guess Carin and I are pretty much hydrant-less! I will have to travel into town to get a shot of a real one!

Kim Hawkins

 

Kim Hawkins Eastern Sierra Gallery

 

 

LOL!  They're usually someplace near a road, so the fire trucks can hook up easily. 

I saw two fire hydrants around here recently that were different from the standard yellow ones we have everywhere!  Couldn't believe it.  Now I'll have to find them again on a day when I have my camera!  :P

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

 One from "Sunny" California.

Great capture!  The contrast is wonderful.

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Just the typical type here :)   From Georgia USA

Very cool!  Yours appear to be numbered.  I'll have to look more closely to see if any of ours are.  I don't think so, but I do know the power poles are numbered here!

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Finally got the fire hydrant directly across the street from my house.

Leavenworth fire plugs aren't numbered but I see that this plug was manufactured in Tennessee in 1972. And that's fitting...my house was built in 1973.

Only difference between fire hydrants here seems to be different colored paint on the caps...have seen red, blue, green, yellow, orange. Colored caps must mean something like what main systems they are on or something close to that...

The city must have saved money by skipping the chains:-)

"Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes."
  

How fun!  You've reminded me there's a hydrant at my office that's different from our yellow ones, and I keep forgetting to take my camera to work.

Did you know there's a date on your toilet, too?  Lift the porcelain lid from the tank and look at the underside.  There should be a manufacture date stamped there.  If you didn't replace the toilet during your remodel, it will probably say 1972 or 1973!  If it's new, it will say 2006 or whatever.  Apparently it's verrrrrrrry important to know when your plumbing fixtures were made.  Toilets and hydrants and suchlike.  :D

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Well, down here in Tallahassee Florida in the USA they look like this. 

Another good two-tone paint job!  That reminds me ... I did get those other shots yesterday.  I'll put up more images in a little while. (Gotta get 'em ready for you!)

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

When I started this whole thing, I thought all our hydrants were the same here.  Boy, was I wrong!  I've been noticing all sorts of different shapes, and realized the hydrants in the town where I work are blue and green, and the hydrants in the town where I live are screaming yellow.  So here are a BUNCH of different styles for you!  The red and gold one has been made into a lamp post holder.  I doubt it's connected to city water!  LOL! 

Oh, btw.  I have a new theory.  I think fire hydrants exist in a slightly different space-time continuum than we do.  They're everywhere, but they're REALLY hard to see!  Even when you're looking for them, you have to be alert, or you miss them totally!  (At least that was my experience yesterday when I was driving around taking pictures of them!)

 

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Cool collage of a great array... No question, the hydrants in your neck of the woods must have come from all over the place...or maybe hydrant companies have catalogs for designer plugs for the West Coast?

I've had the same experience as you are speculating about...fire hydrants are ubiquitous, pervasive, omnipresent and universal but my eye/brain must intentionally overlook them as not part of my daily world. Sounds good whether it is true or not:-)

"Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes."
  

I've noticed other designs here too, but I either didn't have my camera with me. Like last night when I went out for pizza and notice one of them short ones. Or I was thinking of other things and didn't notice.

So I think their are many different types!  How many different types depends on who gets the contract to make them for the area your in. And most likely each company that makes fire hydants, makes more then one type depending on needs.

So I think I'll put my old sony camera in the car, just in case I go somewere.

New Hampshire's  simplistic style Fire Hydrant.

 

Dana

Up periscope!  :D

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Discovered this one in Seaside Heights, New Jersey along the bay.  The salt air has done a REAL number on it...that's for SHORE!

J:lol:e 

WEBSITE - www.jcpowellphotography.com

 

FACEBOOK PAGE - https://www.facebook.com/JCPowellPhotography

Good heavens!  I've never seen a fire hydrant at the beach, so now I'm going to have to pay attention and see if I can spot one.  The corrosion on this one has been working for a while!  Excellent shot.

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

I was surprised to see this thread back closer to the top but this hydrant is why.  Joe, I shore hope this one is not expected to work, with possibly rusted shut parts.  This is a neat shot.  Thanks.
Happy New year to you all!

Here's one from San Antonio, Texas.  If you haven't seen my posting for Harry about the invasion of the pseudo fire hydrants please check it out. It  was posted on Dec. 30th.

Oooohh ... I like the squared-off look!

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

The one on the left reminded me of WALL.E!

Yours have eyes!!!

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa