Hydrant Hijinks: It Isn't Easy Being Green

THIS is about the un-greening of the Emerald City. It could be colored yellow - 17,910 times.

Heresy, you say? Not really. It might make all of us safer.

Seattle's 17,910 fire hydrants are green. About 300 will become yellow beginning next month in Magnolia, West Seattle and View Ridge.

Don't call the cops. It won't be vandals at work. It'll be your Seattle Water Department. The intent is to make the hydrants easier for firefighters to spot at night.

Yellow fire hydrants are not un-American. Seattle is a green-hydrant isle in a sea of yellow - the predominant color of hydrants throughout King County.

While all of Seattle's hydrants are green, some are redheads and blondes. Red or yellow tops designate water pressure. Red indicates 10 to 30 pounds of pressure per square foot. Yellow is 30 to 60. And solid green is more than 60.

That means the best hydrants are the hardest to see against the backdrop of our evergreen city.

My curiosity was piqued by a Seattle Water Department news release headlined: "AREA HYDRANTS TO BE PAINTED AS A PUBLIC SAFETY MEASURE."

"Why, are motorists running into them?" I asked Georgia Taylor, the fire department's knowledgeable public-information officer.

"No, there's no problem with people hitting them," she said.

Taylor didn't write the release. Water Department flaks did - rather clumsily. The public-safety aspect is making it easier for firefighters to find the hydrants.

Is finding green hydrants a big problem for the fire department?

"Firefighters know all the streets, buildings and hydrants in their district," Taylor said. "The issue isn't not knowing where the hydrants are. It's just making them easier to see - particularly when there are bushes around them."

She pointed out that motorists might see yellow ones easier and not park next to them in violation of the law and in the way of fire trucks.

The Water Department news release flatly said the yellowing of Magnolia, West Seattle and View Ridge is the first step in a 3-to-5-year program that will see all Seattle water hydrants painted yellow.

Well, not exactly, says John Franklin, Water Department director of operations.

"It's a pilot project," Franklin said. "We'll monitor it and get feedback from residents. We're very sensitive to public reaction."

Huh?

If yellow hydrants help firefighters, who cares whether they match the surroundings? The best guess of water and fire officials is that aesthetics was the reason Seattle chose green for its fire hydrants.

Lt. Jim Tracy, certification officer and 26-year veteran of the fire department, says the hydrants have been green as long as he's been around.

Tracy says yellow would help, but more important for firefighters are the blue reflectors put in the street to mark hydrant locations. More of those - at a minimal cost of about $1.50 each - will be provided by the water department under the new plan.

"I suspect that's how they got green in the first place," Tracy said of the water department's intent to measure public preference.

The painting project isn't a big new expense for the financially strapped water department.

As part of regular maintenance, fire hydrants are re-painted about every five years by water-department workers. Cost is estimated at $8 a meter.

The regular cycle would be spread over the next five years. No, the water department isn't long on yellow paint. It doesn't cost any more than green.

Franklin said the water department will spend about six weeks gauging public reaction to the yellow hydrants.

If yellow hydrants are better for firefighters, just do it. Skip the government-by-consensus facade. Govern by commonsensus.

Don Hannula's column appears Wednesday on editorial pages of The Times.